Miss Suki

Text and images by Francesca Beltran

It’s always strange to find a girl confident enough to be unapologetically herself. Ariel is that kind of girl. Beautiful, eclectic, and refreshingly unassuming, she strolls calmly through life, always with a pen and paper in hand. I met Ariel in college, where we bonded over our anti-social behavior and our preference to sit at the back of the classroom, where I would watch her doodle for the length of a class. It was always soothing to watch her draw; it baffled me how she could create something out of nothing with just a simple pen. She would draw on the corners of notebooks, around her notes, on printed assignments, on the back of her books and pretty much anywhere with a blank space where she could bring her creatures to life (mostly plants, pineapples and fish).

To this day Ariel is obsessed with dinosaurs and calls herself “Miss Suki.” The name is a perfect fit because it evokes the imaginary character she actually is; I’ve always felt as if her drawings were excerpts from the fantastical universe where she lives in inside her head. After years of wanting to photograph her, last week I showed up at her place with my camera in hand, and spent all morning trying to capture “Miss Suki.” Catching up I found out that Ariel now lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend (who is also an artist), she models for American Apparel, and still spends her time drawing and painting on everything, from paper and canvas, to t-shirts and murals on the streets of New York.

Photographer: Francesca Beltran
Model + Drawings: Ariel Kellogg
Art Direction: Adriana Pauly 

Photographer: Francesca Beltran @franbeltran
Model + Drawings: Ariel Kellogg @miss__suki
Art Direction: Adriana Pauly @adrianafe