Reflecting on this project, Alice told us that “it’s important to make time for both commercial and personal work and to make work you really want to make, not just what you think the internet will appreciate”. In fact, personal projects have proved essential for Alice’s process. They have allowed her to expand her portfolio in the direction she wants her work to go in, as well as opening up opportunities of speaking at Nicer Tuesdays, and exhibiting at Ad agency, Mother. Alice’s self-initiated projects have also led to work for It’s Nice That’s Printed Pages, The Guardian and Washington Examiner, amongst others.
In Alice’s Nicer Tuesdays talk earlier this year, she addressed her obsession with car parks, which she hints at in ‘Mono No Aware’. We were intrigued to know more about this, and learnt that, whether it’s “the familiarity of something so mundane contrasted with the unfamiliar landscape, or it’s simply the pleasing geometry of a grid” that draws Alice in, she’s not sure, but it’s consistently something she seems to gravitate towards. From the more obviously Japanese cityscapes, to something as universal as a car park, Alice became inspired by everything Japan had to offer. “I absolutely want to revisit Japan”, she told us, “I only scratched the surface, and would love to continue to explore.”