By Anna Zhila, art and music critic
The Art of Constant Motion: In Orbit with Tweaks
In a creative world that increasingly demands we pick a lane, define our brand, and stay in it, the arrival of an artist like Tweaks feels like a necessary disruption. The work of Zoé Lawrence, who operates under the moniker Tweaks, is a powerful argument against the very idea of a fixed creative identity. A DJ, a film director, a musician, and the founder of a production company, Lawrence is not just a multi-disciplinary artist; they are a study in creative fluidity, a testament to the idea that the most interesting work often happens in the spaces between established categories.
To engage with their work is to encounter a mind in constant, restless motion. There is a refined and refreshing energy to everything they touch, a sense of an artist who is not just passing through different mediums, but is genuinely at home in them. Their life, as described in their own Instagram bio, is a state of being “mainly NY/LDN but also everywhere and nooowhere.” This is not just a description of a travel schedule. It is a philosophy.
The Education of the In-Between
Lawrence’s art is born from a life lived in transit. They speak of having their most honest conversations with themselves on planes and trains, of learning the most about themselves during these periods of movement. This is a crucial insight. For many, travel and transit are a means to an end, a necessary inconvenience to get from one point of creative production to another. For Lawrence, the journey itself is a creative space. The inspiration comes not from a fixed location, but from the act of moving between them.
This is a profoundly modern condition. Lawrence is an artist of the diaspora, with family scattered across the world, a life that necessitates constant travel to maintain connection. But they have turned this necessity into a source of creative power. Their work feels unmoored from any single scene or genre, not because it is rootless, but because its roots are everywhere at once. It is the art of the in-between, of a mind that is always observing, always absorbing, always on its way to the next place.
A Refusal to Be Defined
This philosophy of movement is most apparent in their approach to their own creative identity. In an age where artists are encouraged to build a personal brand, Lawrence seems to be actively resisting one. When asked what they hope to achieve with their new production company, Seet Deh, the answer is revealing: “Anything and everything, really.” They see their current dreams as "drafts," with "room for more dreaming."
This is not the language of a brand strategist. It is the language of an artist who is committed to remaining open, to resisting the ossifying effect of a single, successful identity. They have built a home for the “detail-oriented side” of themselves, a space where they can explore the nuances of a project without being confined by the expectations of a single medium.
Their short film Older Now, starring Hunter Schafer, is a perfect example of this. It is a piece of work that defies easy categorisation. It is not a documentary, not a music video, not a narrative short, but something in between. It is a hazy, ethereal collage of a specific moment in time - the first summer of the pandemic in New York. It captures the goofy, intimate, and often chaotic beauty of chosen family, of making a “pocket” of safety for oneself in the middle of a chaotic world. The film feels less like it was directed and more like it was lived, a collection of beautiful, fleeting moments captured with a deep and abiding sense of love.
The Necessary Detachment
This refusal to be defined extends to their relationship with the music industry. They are a DJ who has played a sweltering, critically acclaimed Boiler Room set. They are a musician whose upcoming project, Move San, Let Gate, is eagerly anticipated. And yet, they speak of the music industry with a healthy and necessary dose of contempt.
They describe it as "the shittiest part about this whole experience," a world of corporate bureaucracy and exploitation. This is not the cynicism of a failed artist. It is the clear-eyed assessment of a successful one who refuses to be seduced by the machine. They have made a conscious decision not to depend on the music industry for their financial stability, a choice that gives them a rare and powerful kind of freedom.
"I like to make music. Release it. Put no expectations on it and whatever response happens is fine because I was going to make it either way." This is the mantra of a truly independent artist. They have decoupled their creative process from the need for external validation or commercial success. The work is the reward. The rest is just noise.
This detachment allows them to engage with the world of DJing on their own terms. They see it as a "great skill for producers to pick up," a way to hear different genres, to understand the mechanics of a crowd. It is an interactive, educational experience, not just a performance. They are a student of the culture, even as they are actively shaping it.
The Art of the Open Road
The work of Tweaks is a powerful antidote to the rigid categorisations and professional pressures of the modern creative world. It is a testament to the idea that you do not have to choose. You do not have to be a director, or a musician, or a DJ. You can be all of them. You can be an artist whose primary medium is not paint or sound or film, but motion itself.
Lawrence’s work is a celebration of the journey, of the in-between spaces, of the creative potential of a life lived without a fixed address. They are a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful thing an artist can do is to keep moving, to resist the urge to settle, to stay open to the endless, surprising possibilities of the open road. Theirs is not a career to be tracked. It is a life to be witnessed, in all its beautiful, restless motion.
