Persephone’s Lounge: Artist Sun Days – Karina Lafayette

Writer, Astrologer, Persephone and Co. Founder, Venusian

Sun and Venus Sign: Taurus

Rising Sign: Virgo

It’s safe to say that I’ve always been an artist. Whether it’s poetry, short stories, blogging, filmmaking, and even astrology, to me, it’s all the same thing. And yes, even astrology is an art form in a way.

It may have started thanks to the old movies my grandmother and I used to watch, or how each time my teachers in school would ask us to do a writing assignment, it was my happy place. Despite being shy, somehow writing anything made sense. But the moment creativity really found me was one night when I was up late, and the Charlie Chaplin movie ‘Modern Times’ was playing on tv. From then on, art would become my whole world.

I first learned how to write poems at twelve years old, thanks to obsessively reading the lyrics section inside CD sleeves while listening to music. Like a typical Taurus, I’ve always been determined to reach my goals whatever the cost. No matter what life throws at me, I don’t believe in backing down. Ruled by Venus, Taureans have a natural inclination toward the art world and appreciate beauty, aestetics and want to build something that will last for a long time.

Finally came the seventh grade, when in English class we had to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare (another Taurus), and like they say, the rest is history. I fell so in love with his style, that I couldn’t help but start writing scripts using the same format. Funny enough, it was only once I got into college that I learned movies are written very differently. And yet stubborn me, it took awhile to adapt, but I guess it explains why my characters tend to be more theatrical and quirky.

Then in 2012, there was the student strike in Quebec, where I brought a small camera my uncles got me and began recording footage of the protests and doing interviews with students. That became my first doc, ‘The Student Diaries’. It had a small screening at Dawson College, my place of graduation, and later showed at a few universities during the protests against Ford here in Ontario after the changes to OSAP. Whenever I get the chance to display my work, my perfectionist Virgo rising shines brightest. There’s not much that gets past me- I notice everything, which is an important trait when film editing. Of course being a perfectionist isn’t that great for anxiety, but I guess the bright side of that is it allows me to grow as a person and refine my skills.

As an artist, I’d really consider myself multi-faceted, but all in all, what matters most is the emotional impact of my work, whatever it is. Emotion is a loaded word, but I enjoy subjects that are a bit taboo- not necessarily controversial, but that forces people to ask questions and really look at the world around us.

The thing that’s great especially when combining astrology with my craft, is that it allows me a certain level of self-awareness. I think now that a lot more artists are getting into astrology and vice versa, it’s a good time to bring those worlds together. In my films, there haven’t been any astrological references yet, but that’s only because I spent the past four years reinventing myself and really putting my life on track. In 2014, I left my mom due to abuse and moved to Toronto by 2016 to do more work in film. Around that time, I got stuck in a toxic relationship, so there were certain things that needed sorting out before my career could continue moving in the right direction.

By 2019, I wrote a memoir called Persephone Rises, and that was a meaningful book because it was written during my time in a shelter. This was also the period I got deeper into astrology and began doing readings. I’ve referenced the myth of Persephone in a lot of my work ever since. Only difference between us is she stayed with Hades, and I left him to enjoy the flowers.

My most recent project is a mini doc series on the Saturn Return, with Part 3 coming out later this month. If you want to know why Part 4 has already been released, it’s because initially the order of the series was different, but I didn’t like how it flowed. Once the next part is out it’ll make much more sense. Having my own Saturn Return experience as the closing part of the series just felt right.

When it comes to today’s art world, I have a lot of opinions, because honestly I’ve never liked mainstream media and this idea that somehow only a handful of people keep getting appreciated. It’s nice that with social media these days, a lot of us artists from everywhere have the chance to connect and work together in ways that probably wouldn’t have been possible before. And I hope we can become stronger as a community, especially for indie.

I was really moved by Jon Batiste’s speech at the Grammys where he said, “the creative arts are subjective and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most”. He spoke a lot of truth, but what got me is when he said that there is no “best” talent. Personally, there should be more of a focus on building up the art community; movies, fashion, music, literature and all arts included, instead of this idea of competing with each other. There’s already so much uneccessary red tape, why make it harder on each other? Really, I’m pretty sure we all want the same thing, and that’s to be appreciated and have our voices heard, but it starts with ourselves first. You have to put yourself out there and bring it.

As for Persephone’s Lounge: Artist Sun Days, the reason I started this weekly segment is because all in all, I wanted to put more of a spotlight on independent artists, because it’s about time.

Karina xo