Florian-Ayala Fauna is an American artist, musician, poet, and music producer. Fauna is the main member of the post-industrial music project uncertain.
Personal life
Florian-Ayala Fauna was born in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
.
At age 5, Fauna moved to
Bombay Beach, California
Bombay Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, United States. It is located on the Salton Sea, west-southwest of Frink and is the lowest community in the United States, located below sea level. The population wa ...
in
Southern California along the
Salton Sea.
She credits the place as an inspiration to her music.
She described it as a "post-apocalyptic-looking town."
At age 12, she began experimenting with
sampling and rough recordings with a microphone.
In 2002, Fauna lived in the
exurb community of
Indio,
California.
At age 21, she moved to
Buffalo,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
where she has been part of
Buffalo,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
's experimental art and music scene.
Fauna experiences esoteric
visions which is involved in her art due to
temporal lobe epilepsy.
She has
chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...
and is
intersex which plays a role in much of her art.
She is
trans-femme and uses she/her pronouns.
Art
Fauna is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited at the
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in
Paris,
France, a
Coil-themed exhibition in
Berlin,
Germany, and in the
United Kingdom as well as locally in
Buffalo,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
Fauna's artwork utilizes
collage
Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
, film, painting, photography, and poetry.
Her work includes occult, psychedelia, chaos and spiritual enlightenment.
Animal imagery include deer, foxes, goats, hares, birds, and wolves.
She cites the
Surrealists as an influence.
Music
uncertain
In
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
, uncertain began as the solo project of Florian-Ayala Fauna.
Initially, she made
ambient
Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to:
Music and sound
* Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds
* Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere
* ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby
* ...
and
drone music with the computer programme
Ableton.
Her first album ''glass fawn'' was an ambient soundscape about a deer getting lost.
It often involved
field recordings, processed sounds, and
tape loops while their current cycle (since
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
) features albums about a family of
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
es done with composition,
sampling, and complex music production on Ableton Live and
Kontakt.
Influences include
Aleister Crowley,
Hermeticism,
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...
,
Coil,
Current 93,
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter (British musician), Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pi ...
, and
alchemy.
As of
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, Fauna is the main producer and collaborates with others, primarily with Felix Keigh who is her fiancé and main vocalist.
Live performances
uncertain started doing live performances in 2013.
Cities for live performances have included
Boston,
Cincinnati,
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, and
New York City. However, her chronic fatigue limits touring.
They use visuals such as the use of animal masks, candles, lights, video projections, and ritualistic costumes.
Live shows have included performances alongside TRNSGNDR/VHS.
Collaborations
Fauna has collaborated with former
Coil member
Stephen Thrower (
Cyclobe, UnicaZürn), Esperik Glare's
Charlie Martineau
Charlie Martineau is an American musician. Martineau is part of the music project Esperik Glare.
Background Personal life
Martineau is from the U.S. state Wyoming in the United States. Novelist Dennis Cooper said ''Esperik Glare'' has been "a ...
(In Serpents and Seas), and others.
Thrower contributed an opening track to her
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
album ''Dark Night of the Soul''.
She has also frequently done artwork for Swiss
post-industrial musicians and artists Black Sun Productions. Her most recent collaboration was with London-based
industrial hip hop artist Ubik MCDXCII, providing production work for the track "Rites and Ceremonies" on his album "Blackout Blinds".
Reception
In February 2013,
Orange County, California alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
''
OC Weekly
''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. OC Weekly was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007.
The paper was distributed at coffee ...
''s Dave Barton called ''dancing with the blind (lost children)'' "atmospheric and haunting" and "one of the most evocative titles for an album I've ever heard."
In August 2016, ''The Public''s Cory Perla described both her art and music as "otherworldly."
In March 2017, British music magazine ''
The Quietus''s Russell Cuzner summed up her music as "somehow fulfil
a similar aesthetic to the artist's equally prolific visual art that often depict animal heads
..as if charged with some kind of hidden power, part gothic horror, part Gnostic totem."
In December 2019, ''
Columbus Alive''s Andy Downing said ''God Is a Man Eater'' was "dense, buzzing, six-track song cycle."
Politics
Fauna supports
anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
and identifies as an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
.
Discography
See also
*
List of ambient music artists
*
List of androgynous people
This is a list of notable people who have been described at any time as androgynous in their persona or presentation, either by self-identification or in reliable sources.
List
See also
* Lists of LGBT people
** List of people with non-bin ...
*
List of dark ambient artists
*
List of experimental musicians
This is a list of notable experimental musicians, in alphabetical order by surname.
A–E
* Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah – (Egypt) experimental music
* Acid Mothers Temple – Experimental psychedelic rock
* Arca – (Venezuela) Experimen ...
*
List of noise musicians
The following is a list of artists who make noise music.
A
*Abruptum
*AIDS Wolf
*Maryanne Amacher
*Oren Ambarchi
*Anenzephalia
*George Antheil
*John Armleder
*Koji Asano
*Astro. "By the early 1990s, recordings by Hijokaidan, Incapacitants, C.C. ...
*
List of people from Buffalo, New York
*
List of people from Hampton Roads, Virginia
*
List of people from Virginia
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of people with chronic fatigue syndrome
*
List of transgender people
*
List of intersex people
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fauna, Florian-Ayala
Ambient musicians
American experimental musicians
American industrial musicians
Artists from Norfolk, Virginia
Intersex non-binary people
American LGBT musicians
Living people
Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia
People with epilepsy
American noise musicians
Transgender musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
Non-binary musicians
Transgender non-binary people
Intersex musicians