Q&A: How to Create a Sapphic Scene with Alex, Karis, Chloe, and Faye from Sapphic Memphis

Alex, Karis, Chloe, and Faye from Sapphic Memphis

Alex, Karis, Chloe, and Faye from Sapphic Memphis are like really creative. Read the Q&A from our interview available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Sapphic Memphis Group Interview

ZACK: So I am joined by a select few members of Sapphic Memphis. Sapphic Memphis is a collective. They host events for queer nightlife. It is completely volunteer run. One of the things I love about Sapphic Memphis is that it seems to attract very creative people. All the pictures I see are so stylish, so cool, underground artists. So I had to have you all on, so thanks for joining me.

ALL: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

ZACK: So we have Alex, Karis, Chloe, and Faye. So my first question is, what is it like being in this collective? What have you learned about yourself and your creativity?

KARIS: I've definitely become more queer since joining Sapphic Memphis. I think just being more a part of the community really gives you the space to sort of explore yourself and explore who you are and who you want to be perceived as. And I think discovering more about yourself and the opportunity to be more yourself also breeds creativity because you're doing so much self-discovery, you want to express that. So it really brings out a lot of creativity to be sort of excavating yourself.

ALEX: I think community is our main goal, helping people find people like them, foster community is a huge goal of ours. I just learned that there are people out there who really appreciate me and what I do and likewise, everybody has something to offer. Everybody is special in their own different ways. And that's something that I really do enjoy about being a part of Sapphic Memphis.

FAYE: I love being part of Sapphic Memphis, especially based off of what y'all are saying. It is an amazing community with like minded people. We're able to not only host these events for like minded people as well, but also we are all really creative. All of us have different senses of style that all mesh well together so awesomely. And I love our vibe. I love how we collab. And everything about us is just an awesome rainbow mixing pot of creativity and love and joy. And I'm really happy that we can give that. And we get it back from our participants and our guests.

CHLOE: Being a part of Sapphic has showed me how important safety is to having spaces. I remember my first Sapphic party that I went to as a member of the group was Halloween. And that was the first time where I felt comfortable enough wearing fishnet stockings and something a little bit more revealing. And it was because I knew that I was going to be in a space that I was safe enough to express my sexuality without feeling objectified or weird. So just all of that is possible because of the intention that we've put behind making that space accessible and comfortable for everyone.

ZACK: And for you all, was there a moment at one of these Sapphic events where you were thinking, “This is what I always wanted to be part of?” Are there any memories that you have where it’s like, “This is it. This is special”?

KARIS: I think for me, we really get the opportunity to work with amazing people and members of the community. And every time they come back to us and say thank you so much for hiring me, thank you so much for letting me be a part of this, this was such a beautiful night. I'm getting chills right now talking about it. I feel so lucky and so honored to have done something to facilitate that for them and to be a part of something that a lot of people enjoyed and that really reinvigorates us and fills us up creatively and as a community.

ALEX: I think for me, it was definitely hosting this last event.

ZACK: I heard you were a comedian.

ALEX: A baby comedian, freshly newly minted comedian. But yeah, that was my first time hosting anything. They really put a lot of trust in me. And I felt for a first timer, it really went off pretty well.

KARIS: They slayed it.

ALEX: Everybody made it so fun. Everybody was showing lots of love to not just me, but the performers and the stage kittens. And so that was really nice. A year ago when I moved back home, I definitely would have never seen myself doing something. I feel it definitely let me out of my comfort zone because I'm an extroverted introvert. I feel I'm very shy and not typically the first person to jump in front of a crowd of people. But it was really fun and I feel our community, the people who showed up for us, people who would come in there expecting a show, they really made it the best environment for me to pop my little cherry, my hosting cherry.

ZACK: What's been a special moment that you were thinking I was meant to be here?

FAYE: Honestly, it was our first meeting. Well, my first meeting in Sapphic when I realized this is what I should have been here for. We all understand how hard it is to be queer where we are. We all understand how hard it is to find safe and sapphic spaces. And after our first meeting, just sitting down with everyone. Meeting everyone, understanding the direction we wanted to go because we do nightlife, but we also work with community partners and we want to continue to do that. That right there, especially when we were planning pride. That's definitely when I was thinking, “Yo, this is it. This is what we are here for.” So I would have to say our first meeting and then this past meeting we had to plan for pride.

CHLOE: I was also going to say pride. That was such a special day for all of us, obviously. But I think it added on to it because of the storm that happened that morning. And it was just such a special night for us because these events are so important and just so necessary. And so just being able to be a part of the organization that was creating a safe space specifically for queer, sapphic people, it just felt really special and emotional for me, honestly. And me and Karis were tabling and sort of had a table set up at the entrance, greeting people when they walked in and seeing all the queer folks walking in, looking so excited and so happy to be there. It was just really, really sweet. And everyone's just so nice. I don't know, it's great.

ZACK: That just gave me chills. Seeing all the queer people coming in smiling and being happy. Finally. So to get semi-serious—growing up were there moments where you felt left out and didn't have a community? And how do you think that kind of impacted your creativity.

FAYE: Growing up, and I know a lot of people relate, especially being in the Bible Belt, growing up with religion, which there is nothing wrong with that. But there's some times where it can feel limiting to who you are as a person. And I went to a predominantly white school, so not only was I not around a lot of queer people, I wasn't around a lot of people that looked like me in general. And then going to college, I went to Mississippi State, which was great. But it could be queerer, right? And so I had amazing friends, do not get me wrong, but they weren't queer like me. And it is not the same. And so sometimes I felt I couldn't dress fully the way I wanted to because I didn't want to look too extra with my friends. I didn't want all my friends to be wearing a crop top and shorts. And I'm over here wearing all black, all black makeup and spikes and stuff. And I'm just the odd one out. And coming back to Memphis and seeing all the creativity, and meeting y'all, I was being myself.

ZACK: I'm so glad you get to wear as many spikes as you want.

FAYE: Thank you, thank you. It's so therapeutic.

ALEX: Yeah, I think for me too, growing up in the church, I remember when I came out as bisexual and it was just the weekly news going around the congregation. And it was just, oh, boy. It was my junior year of high school, maybe sophomore maybe. And they were just like, how do you know? How do you know that? I was just like, I just know. It's just like nothing's wrong with it. I love everybody essentially. And I remember not only moving back home, a year ago, I moved back into a COGIC household. And so a deeply conservative Christian household. I remember I actually got in trouble for my, the first Sapphic Memphis I went to, Disco Obedience, the outfit I wore. My granddad's wife went out and got my granddad and was just like, he needs to look at you before you leave the house.

And then he was just like, oh no, we can't have that. And I was just like, I'm going to an all girl dance party. And they were just like, we don't care. We can't have the neighbors seeing you. And it's like, we live in the middle of fucking nowhere. What the hell are you talking about? So yeah. I just remember growing up and always being the odd one out in church and shout out to Tumblr, man. Shout out.

FAYE: Tumblr!

ALEX: That shit. I would not be who I was if Tumblr didn't exist, because I've always been just this way. And recently meeting everybody else and being able to, I would have never had my ass out if it weren't for Karis. These people give me the confidence, in my day-to-day life, to just go on and be who I am. And I just really I deeply appreciate it.

KARIS: I definitely was always really quirky growing up. And I was also in a conservative Christian household. My dad was the mission pastor of a sort of megachurch in Knoxville. So yeah, I definitely felt I was living in a fishbowl. My parents encouraged me to be creative, but only to a certain extent. I was very sheltered. It never even occurred to me that I could be gay. I didn't even know that girls could be gay for a long time. The first time I met a bisexual girl, I was that's an option? That's crazy. What's it like? But growing up that, you don't know. You just think something is wrong with you. You're like, everyone just must be dealing with this so much better and so much easier than I am. Everyone else is normal or they're pretending a lot better than I am. But yeah, finding queer community, I can be myself, truly. And I am perceived the way I want to be. They see me for who I am.

CHLOE: Like everyone else on this couch. I was raised in a Christian religious household. My family was Catholic, so that was really fun for me.

ZACK: The guilt.

CHLOE: The guilt. I'm still working through the guilt. And I was also a band kid growing up.

ZACK: Me too.

CHLOE: So there was a lot of indicators from an early age that something was up with me.

ZACK: What did you play?

CHLOE: I played. I started out with piano, then violin, and then clarinet was my big one.

ZACK: OK, clarinet is pretty gay.

CHLOE: And it's funny. So it wasn't until I got to marching band in high school that I really felt I was in a community of like minded people, because down the road a lot of us came out as gay. But before that it was sort of just me writing poems about girls and band on my notes app and thinking that was totally normal. Which it is. It is normal. But yeah, community is just very important. I don't really think it was until I left college that I really found a true sense of queer community and being a part of Sapphic Memphis has helped that a lot. And then also being a barista was a huge, huge, huge moment for me. But yeah.

KARIS: I am what I describe as a serial crafter. I am severely ADHD, so the hyper fixations kind of choose me. I have demons inside me, and I just have to craft them out. I crochet, right now I'm working on a chain mail. I've made chain mail. I've sewed in the past. I painted. I just kind of have put it out there. I've written songs. No one will ever hear them. I admire people who can make an album. I mean, maybe at some point in my life I'll just drop an album. I'll be like, here you go. And then never do music again. I think that's really what drives me. I just, I feel compelled to create. I just can't, I can't live and just consume. I can't just sit. I have to do something. There has to be meaning to my time, I guess.

ALEX: Well, I'm a musician first and always. Always first. I sing, I play a little bit of bass. I'm a serial playlist maker. I made a playlist every month since 2015. So almost ten years. Almost ten years. We're coming up on, It's crazy, it's crazy, it's crazy. And then after that, I was a photographer and a videographer when I was in college, so I've always had an eye for the visual aspect of aesthetics and stuff. As I said, I had a Tumblr, so I've always loved pictures, loved images. Flash a little GIF at me real quick. What else? I make a lot of our graphics, actually, for Sapphic Memphis. They don't call me pngshawty for nothing. I be working hard on Canva. I think that's about it. I mean I cook. I DJ, I guess sometimes. I feel I've always been a Jill of all trades, but whatever I put my hands on, once I figure it out, it's in there.

ZACK: How do you keep up your creative energy? Is there anything you do to stay connected to it?

ALEX: I think it's mostly the playlist. I think if anything, if I don't create anything, it's always going to be a playlist. And that's the bare minimum, I know, but something about curating music for me has always been—I always keep up with new music, the new stuff. I'm a huge festival girl. I mean I was at Bonnaroo. Which fucking sucked. But yeah, that's always been my life and stuff, music, art, movies, love love movies.

ZACK: So basically, you're really cool.

ALEX: Oh my God, people say that all the time, and I don't feel that way, though. I'm just a girl.

ZACK: What about you Faye?

FAYE: Oh…well.

ZACK: You're one of my favorite drag artists, by the way.

FAYE: Wow, yeah. So with drag, obviously everyone knows there's a lot that goes into it, but I take inspiration from literally anything around me. A lot of my inspiration definitely comes from video games. I've always loved makeup. I did theater, I love fashion, and I love hair, I love wigs, I love it. Oh, I also love to craft. I just got into sewing. Oh, y'all aren't ready. Your Collage Parties— there is a collage that I made that has inspired a look that I want to do. And that leads into what keeps me going, events like yours. Everyone at the Lamplighter. Fairy Spit, hey. And another thing that really keeps me going. Adderall.

ALEX: Not recreationally.

ZACK: What about you, Chloe?

CHLOE: Damn.

ZACK: I know your secret.

CHLOE: What is my secret, Zack?

ZACK: You are going to make an album one day.

CHLOE: Okay. I mean, that would be crazy. Y'all are all going to be on the album with me, including you Zack. So my creative side is something I feel I'm still trying to best tap back into, because I was very creative in band and things, and I wrote songs and poems and I really enjoyed doing that. I feel music is my medium, but I'm trying to get back into playing guitar, writing a little bit. And then apart from that, I'm really inspired by fashion as well. Hair. But I'm really just the type of person that likes to be surrounded by creative people in the hopes that I'll just slurp up all of that energy. But a goal for myself is to create a lot more. This year and find that driving force and that inspiration. And I think that being among creative minded people is very helpful for me to do that.

ZACK: Is there something that held you back from that creativity?

CHLOE: I'm shy. Honestly, I feel it's true when people say you're holding yourself back.

ALEX: I feel that, too. All my friends are musicians. And they are are all like, when are you going to start doing music?

ZACK: And my favorite question to ask and wrap everything up. If you had all the time and all the resources in the world, what would be your dream project creatively for yourself and for Sapphic Memphis.

FAYE: For Sapphic Memphis. Oh, I would buy a whole strip. I would buy a whole strip. There will be a tea and coffee shop. There's a speakeasy at night. There would be a clothing store. And any other things that all local artists can come and sell their stuff. And then there will be another place specifically for people to come and create and do stuff, whether they want to make music or whatever. I mean, the only thing is you just got to be queer. And that's pretty easy, right? I just want us to have a whole strip and then we just go hard on it. And then for me personally, I would just, I feel I would just really like to be able to travel and take inspiration from where I am, and maybe build new outfit pieces. There is an amazing drag artist named, Asia Consent and what she does is she will travel as well and go and see what inspiration she can pull from, who she can talk to, things like that. I want to do that.

ZACK: I think you're on the right path, so just keep going.

CHLOE: I'll go. I've always been really fascinated by visual media and film, and I think it would be really fun if I had all of the resources in the world to do some sort of documentary of Sapphic and have the girlies make the background music and just sort of an all hands on deck sort of thing. Just showing how the behind the scenes would work and how the parties themselves work, set up, take down. Just that vibe. I think that would be so fun.

KARIS: It's similar to my personal dream, but it's not really creative in that you really have to think of a completely different world. But I would love to have just housing. I would love to have a space that we could always go to that we know is safe. We don't have to worry about the venue hiring skeezy bodyguards. We don't have to worry about random people coming—it's our space. We own it. We dictate what happens there. Nobody's telling us that we can't do something. But also just giving back to the community, I would love to do community meals. I would love to have community housing. I would love to do provide actually give back to the Sapphics that gives so much to us. Is that creative? Does that go?

ZACK: Yes, absolutely.

ALEX: I think mine aligns with everybody else's. I would envision something kind of like the Concourse for us, it's just what if we bought a building and it was just everything you can ever need, just right there for our community? We’ve been harping so much about community, but it really is everything. The people are really what makes us and what makes us able to do this and to be able to give back to our community—it would make us all so happy, tenfold, I think. And then for me personally, an album, I think that's just something I've been thinking about for a really fucking long time and whenever I get over this mental block that I have about performing and doing music and stuff, which I'm slowly inching out of that with the comedy. But I feel an album would be my next goal. My biggest goal, if I had all the funds in the world. I would sit and I would write for days and I would write skits and do all the visuals. I'm talking really big type shit. Not to be type shit on the podcast—my partner hates it. Music—it's been ingrained in me, I feel. And so I feel I'm denying myself but not making an album. And once I get into that it's over with.

ZACK: I'm so inspired by y'all. This was so fun. I want to hang out with y'all all the time. Are there any upcoming Sapphic Memphis events?

KARIS: We always take a long break after pride. But something kind of summery, something kind of campy. Something kind of watery. There should be something fun coming soon.

FAYE: The heatwave might be coming, but y'all will get cooled off.

Where to find everybody

Instagram: @sapphicmemphis, @png.shawty, @chloecinema, @mystic.faye