The Lockdown Series: Isolation, Music, and Creative Recalibration

At Shiver, we’re drawn to artists who blur boundaries - between analogue and digital, control and chaos, image and emotion. In this artist interview, we sit down with Vivi Ayling, also known as themilkape, a London-based glitch artist and photographer whose work explores distortion as a form of storytelling.

Vivi’s practice is rooted in experimentation. Working primarily with photography and digital manipulation, she uses glitch techniques to disrupt traditional ideas of image-making, revealing beauty in fragmentation, error, and imperfection. Her work challenges the polished surface of digital culture, instead embracing unpredictability as a powerful creative tool.

Featured as part of Shiver’s Lockdown Series exhibition, Vivi’s work reflects a period of introspection and creative recalibration where isolation, music, and emotion became catalysts for visual exploration. In this interview, Vivi shares insight into her creative journey, artistic influences, and the evolution of her glitch-driven process, offering an honest look at how digital art can act as both personal expression and cultural reflection.

This conversation is an invitation to step inside Vivi’s world, where photography fractures, pixels misbehave, and meaning emerges through disruption. Whether you’re interested in contemporary digital art, emerging UK artists, or the creative possibilities of glitch aesthetics, this interview offers a deeper understanding of an artist shaping their own visual language.'cabinfever' by Vivi 'themilkape' Ayling

 

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I currently live in Walthamstow in London, but I'm from a seaside town in Kent, called Whitstable. Currently, I'm isolating in Walthamstow with my wife and our housemate.

WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND?

I've never studied art, in fact, I really hated art in school - but I always loved playing around with Photoshop, have done since I was eleven years old. Then as a teenager, I got into video editing, making strange videos with my cousin with little to no plot, using sound and dialogue from TV shows, video games, adverts, whatever I could get my hands on. Around the age of 20, I discovered glitch art and realised that this was an art form that really resonated with me… from that point, I was more or less hooked. A few years later I got into film photography, and then I started combining the two. Last year, I made the switch to primarily shooting on digital, mostly for convenience.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MEDIUMS?

Well… the glitch art pretty much has to be done digitally, so I guess digital? That being said, a lot is also created through photos that I will have taken and manipulated (though I often collaborate with other people and manipulate their pictures) so… both photography and miscellaneous digital processing.

'T U R N T H A T N O I S E D O W N' by Vivi 'themilkape' Ayling

 

WHO/WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR KEY INFLUENCES/INSPIRATIONS ARE?

When I started making glitch art, I only really knew one person who did anything like it. A regular at the bottle shop I worked at called Oli Chilton. But over time, I met other people who do absolutely amazing work, most notably Adam John Williams (otherwise known as Chemical Adam) and Lydia Musonic. They're both, honestly, geniuses. Their ingenuity and creativity know no bounds.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MUSICAL INFLUENCES THAT INSPIRE YOUR WORK? OR ANY PARTICULAR ARTISTS/SONGS YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO WHILE WORKING?

I take a lot of inspiration from music. Without sounding too pretentious, I try to display what I think music would sound like if it looked like something (or what the emotions music make you feel look like).

It really depends on what I'm working on, but often featured are Venetian Snares, Perturbator, Igorrr, Aphex Twin, the list could go on forever. It changes a lot.

 

SO, WOULD YOU SAY CHROMESTHESIA IS AN ELEMENT IN YOUR WORK/PROCESS?

This is the first time I've heard about chromesthesia - I've heard of synesthesia but not specifically chromesthesia. I guess you could say that, yeah! It's more that I get the shape/severity of glitch from the music than the colour.

'c r o u c h c r o u c h c r o u c h c r o u c h' by Vivi 'themilkape' Ayling

 

WE'RE GOING THROUGH A PRETTY UNSETTLING TIME RIGHT NOW, HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Honestly, I'm doing alright. I'm an introvert by nature and I don't often go out when I'm not working my Muggle job. I'm worried about my wife, they're immunocompromised so contracting a virus that we don't really know that much about, at a time when the NHS is critically underfunded, overworked, and frankly, oversubscribed, is a terrifying concept. I've just become a housewife, cooking, cleaning, and looking after my wife. I take a lot of pleasure in it, but it's also really important that in this time we all take time to look after ourselves. When I was in therapy last year, my therapist and I spoke a lot about 'self-keeping' rather than 'self-care' - self-care is often a response to something negative, whether it's emotional or physical. Self-keeping is about doing nice things for you, because you find them nice. Not as a reward, just because you can. I've been spending my evenings surrounded with colourful lights, blankets, lava lamps, and incense. The impact on my mental health has been substantial.

HOW IS THE LOCKDOWN AFFECTING YOU CREATIVELY?

Well, I've been using this time to work on a zine. Unfortunately, my laptop is broken, so all I have to work on is my wife's old university laptop which… struggles with more or less all the things I do, so my output is somewhat limited by that. However, I'm sitting on a lot of content at the minute. Real good at making a lot of art, not so good at posting it/remembering to post it.

Annoyingly, both of the major projects I had planned require other people, so in the interest of public health, I've put that off until this all blows over! Watch this space though.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THIS TIME?

I'm not pushing it, if I want to create, I'll create. So far, I've been using this time to focus on more music-oriented art. Namely, playing more bass guitar. Also, I just put out a chillout mix on SoundCloud, so I'll be practising with stuff like that as well.

AND DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR STAYING CREATIVE DURING QUARANTINE?

Art is a great thing for keeping yourself busy, when all you have is time. I swear by a process I learned in the one life drawing class I attended, spend 35 minutes just not thinking about it and getting ideas out! 5 minutes first, then start a new one for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes for the third. Gives you ideas, gets the creativity flowing, all that good shit.

Aside from that, my advice is to create for yourself. If you like it, that's the important thing.

 

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to learn more about Vivi, check out her artist page where you can see her glitch photography prints.