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AD 283 | Aisha Schliessler
“Leaning Into Authenticity”
Aisha Schliessler is a writer and director based in Los Angeles and London. A third-generation filmmaker, life behind the camera is in her blood.

As a narrative director, Aisha is passionate about exploring the human psyche through a nuanced and stylistic lens. Her work emphasizes character and emotional storytelling, often infused with playfulness and irony. A love of architecture, fashion, and photography serves as a throughline in her work, as she strives to craft visually compelling worlds for her characters to inhabit. Drawing from her background in acting, Aisha brings a thoughtful, compassionate approach to working with talent and guiding performance.

Her work spans a wide range of projects and has been featured on platforms such as Free The Work, Booooooom TV, Girls in Film, NoBudge, and Film Shortage.

Her short film RHINESTONE BLUE, made in collaboration with Fujifilm, screened at several recognized festivals, including the Vail Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival, and Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema. The film earned a Telly Award, a Cannes Corporate Media & TV Award, and multiple festival honors, including Best Short.

Other notable projects include the short film THE CALL, starring Juno Temple, and most recently, the short documentary A GREAT LOVE, profiling the acclaimed equine sculptor, Charlie Langton.

She is currently in development on her first feature film.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:
  • How Aisha got started directing films (00:03:09)
  • Her film A Great Love (00:10:58)
  • Being present in the journey (00:17:49)
  • Aisha speaks about her process in filmmaking (00:24:15)
  • Yoshino and Aisha speak about the process of acting and directing (00:32:26) 
  • Exploring subjectivity in art (00:48:46)
  • Leaning into one’s authenticity (00:56:34)

    aishaschliessler.com
    instagram.com/aishaschliessler

    Posted 12.02.2025
    AD 282 | Roy Dean
    “A Constant Journey Into Mastery”

    Roy Dean is a martial artist, filmmaker, and creative storyteller whose work bridges the worlds of combat and art. A black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Roy Harris, Roy is known for his elegant approach to movement, mastery, and self-expression. Through his films, writings, and instruction, he reveals the artistry within discipline—showing how the resistance of training can refine both technique and character. His latest projects continue to explore the intersection of creativity, philosophy, and the martial path.

    Topics Discussed In This Episode:
    • Roy’s origin story in martial arts and the philosophies that shaped him (00:03:23)
    • Applying martial arts philosophy to everyday life (00:18:16)
    • On letting go — acceptance, release, and personal evolution (00:34:38)
    • Transforming stress into deeper empathy and expanded perspective (00:42:44)
    • Men and masculinity — reflections on growth and identity (00:51:31)
    • Mentorship — Roy on his teacher, Roy Harris (00:57:58)
    • The duality of jiu jitsu: humbling yet deeply inspiring (01:06:05)
    • The intersection of art and martial arts (01:11:38)
    • Longevity in training — practical advice for recovery and staying in the game (01:18:44)
    • Mastery and style — Roy speaks on mastery; Yoshino on artistic style (01:33:53)
    • Refining fundamentals — patterns, basics, and the value of repetition (01:40:30)
    • Value structures — understanding them and knowing when to transcend them (01:46:58)
    • Embodiment and physicality in art (01:59:50)
    • Roy Dean’s upcoming jiu jitsu retreats (02:07:23)

      roydean.com
      youtube.com/@roydean
      instagram.com/roydean_

      Posted 11.18.2025
      AD 281 | Æmen Ededéen
      “On Aletheia House and Nihil”

      Æmen Ededéen lived and worked in San Francisco and then Los Angeles for fifteen years before moving to Roswell, New Mexico in 2018 as a grant recipient of the year-long Roswell Artist in Residence Program. He and his wife, the artist Maja Ruznic, have since made New Mexico home and have recently welcomed their first child, a daughter, into the world. Hagler was born at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho in 1979 and is a first-generation college graduate with a visual communications degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Self-directed research and travel has underpinned Hagler’s career and is essential to how the artist integrates creative influences with his life experience.

      2018 saw two museum shows at the Brand Library and Art Center in Los Angeles and the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico entitled “The River Lethe” and “Love Letters to the Poorly Regarded” respectively. 2021 marks two solo exhibitions for Hagler with “Drawing in the Dark” at Cris Worley in Dallas and “The Living Circle Us” at Unit London, curated by David Anfam. He has exhibited paintings, sculpture, video, and animation in galleries and museums in North and South America, Europe, and Australia including a long list of solo exhibitions. Reviews and features about the work, as well as his own poems and essays, have appeared in a variety of publications and media outlets in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

      Topics Discussed In This Episode:
      • Æmen on Aletheia House and the inception of the residency (00:03:05)
      • Creating art beyond self-satisfaction; maturing through service to others (00:10:45)
      • Engaging with life soulfully (00:16:41)
      • The film, Being There (Peter Sellers). and aligning with a higher calling (00:21:00)
      • Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist (00:28:27)
      • Æmen on his relationship with his wife, artist Maja Ruznic (00:36:03)
      • On becoming (00:46:55)
      • On Æmen new book, Nihil (00:52:26)
      • Yoshino and Æmen discuss spirituality and religion (01:03:46)
      • Exploring values; deepening consciousness and awareness (01:19:06)

        instagram.com/aemenededeen
        aletheia.house

        Posted 11.3.2025
        AD 280 | Manuel Mathieu
        “Bury Your Masters”

        Manuel Mathieu (b. 1986) is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with painting, ceramics and installation. His work investigates themes of historical violence, erasure and cultural approaches to physicality, nature and spiritual legacy.

        Mathieu’s interests are partially informed from his upbringing in Haiti, and his experience emigrating to Montréal at the age of 19. Freely operating in between and borrowing from numerous historical influences and traditions, Mathieu aims to find meaning through a spiritual or asemic mode of apparition.

        Mathieu has developed a distinctive abstract visual language, used to create phenomenological encounters that confront our didactic traditions. Amorphous forms vacillate and dissolve into one another, creating boundless landscapes traversable through desire. Through his quest for meaning, transparency and openness he undertakes a process of discovering his work, as opposed to creating it; by doing so the work holds its autonomy and can be assimilated into a space of collective consciousness. The vibrational effect of his work elicits physical and emotional frequencies that offer alternative methods for navigating the world.

        Drawing from a wide-range of subjects, Manuel’s practice combines his sensibility and his formal arts education, which culminated in an MFA Degree from Goldsmiths, University of London.

        artistdecoded.com
          manuelmathieu.com
          instagram.com/manuelmathieu

          Posted 10.6.2025
          AD 279 | Daniel Segrove
          “Following The Truest Path”
          Photo by Yoshino

          I am a 34-year-old artist living and working in San Francisco, California. My work focuses on my perspective on life, identity, and empathy. I paint and draw people who are close to me, or if they have a story I can relate too. My style consists of meticulous studies of anatomy and form, as well as pieces that explore a more emotional and expressive theme. I have shown in galleries both across the United States and internationally.


          Topics Discussed In This Episode:
          • Segrove and Yoshino talk about modern technology and how it affects artists (00:02:26)
          • Living peacefully and solitarily as an artist (00:09:12)
          • Self-realization through art (00:14:46)
          • The early phases of Segrove’s artistic journey (00:22:29)
          • Intuition vs. impulsivity: balance, process, and letting go of outcomes (00:36:55)
          • Staying spiritually youthful, following the truest path, and sensing others’ energy (00:43:30)
          • Writing to process emotions and trusting and owning our unique artistic processes (00:51:59)
          • Breaking through social norms to discover the true self (00:59:53)
          • The weight of stress on the body and how art offers release (01:11:27)

            instagram.com/dsegrove/

            Posted 8.20.2025


            About

            "I started this series as a means for exploration, an exploration of self, and an exploration of the perspectives of other artists.

            This series is an unabridged documentation of conversations between artists. It’s a series dedicated to breaking down the barriers we tend to set up in our own minds. I want to inspire future creatives to have the courage to explore and experiment. This is about making dreams a reality and not about letting our dreams fall to the wayside.

            My intention is to give my audience a sense of real human connection, something that feels rich and organic.

            When I was thinking of a title I thought of the word “movement”.

            In relation to the Renaissance period in art, my goal for this program is to signify a rebirth of consciousness towards the way we look at contemporary art."

            - Yoshino
            Contact

            info@artistdecoded.com