PERSEPHONE
A YAZ X MUSIC EXPERIENCE
MUSIC AND STREAMING
Persephone is now available to stream and purchase on all digital music platforms globally including Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube, Amazon Music, Bandcamp, Deezer, Soundcloud and Pandora.
If you are a media outlet interested in covering Persephone please contact The Yaz Collective here.
ABDUCTION: THE SHORT FILM
Prepare to embark on a journey through the depths of Hades with
director, producer, and multi-disciplinary artist YAZ's new short film, Abduction.
Directed, produced by, and starring YAZ, Abduction is inspired by her real-life experience of being unlawfully institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital at age 15. The film reimagines the myth of Persephone through the lens of bondage and BDSM, as well as dominance and forced submission on a societal level. The film intertwines the mythology of Persephone’s journey of self-actualization from the archetypal innocent maiden to the queen of Hades with YAZ's own experiences in the psychiatric hospital using elements of bondage and fetish imagery, the Last Supper, and the resurrection of Christ to explore the themes of the loss of innocence, individuation, resurrection, and rebirth.
At the heart of Abduction lies the classic myth of Persephone, the goddess of spring, and her descent into the underworld, juxtaposed with elements of bondage and fetish imagery that serve as a metaphor for the constraints of society and the quest for personal liberation. The film follows a young woman, Yaz, who finds herself entangled in a world of power dynamics and control, mirroring Persephone's descent into the underworld. As the narrative unfolds, viewers are drawn into a surreal landscape where myth and reality converge, culminating in a powerful exploration of sacrifice, resurrection, and
the eternal cycle of life and death.
The film features a first-of-its-kind rope bondage suspension by internationally acclaimed rope rigger Damon Pierce and corsets from world-renowned corsetmakers Dark Garden Corsetry, to create a visual feast that revolutionizes fetish iconography.
As YAZ states: "Abduction is a re-examination of one of the darkest and most traumatic experiences of my life. When I was 15 years old, my mother had me unlawfully institutionalized. I was strapped down to a bed, drugged, and held hostage for nine days as the 72-hour psychiatric hold I was initially placed
under continued to be illegally renewed. I was stripped of any semblance of autonomy and all of my rights, and was forced into a position of complete submission with threats of being drugged further and held longer for any sort of perceived lack of total compliance. After nine days in hell, I was released
and swore I would spend the rest of my life fighting to change the system that nearly killed me. I have spent the past 12 years unraveling the impact of
what happened to me over those nine life-altering days. Abduction is the reclamation of my power and the alchemization of the pain I carried for so long. I hope that it liberates you in the ways that it has liberated me."
Yazmeen Mirgoli aka YAZ is a director, producer, and multi-disciplinary performance and visual artist currently residing in Los Angeles. Since 2013, her work has been featured globally in film, editorials, print media, advertising, and live events and has amassed over one million views on her YouTube channel YAZ X MUSIC. Abduction is her short film directorial debut.
Abduction is now available to watch on the official YAZ X MUSIC YouTube channel, and will be screened at film festivals domestically and internationally throughout the 2024-2025 film festival season, including Seattle's acclaimed Erotic Art Festival from April 26-28, 2024.
VISUALS
Persephone Official Videos
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
HYPERFEMME SURREALISM. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF MULTI-HYPHENATE ARTIST YAZ.
Yazmeen Mirgoli aka YAZ is a director, producer, and multi-disciplinary performance and visual artist currently residing in Los Angeles. Since 2013, her work has been featured globally in film, editorials, print media, advertising, and live events and has amassed over one million views on her YouTube channel YAZ X MUSIC.
Born in Palo Alto and raised in a small town in the golden hills of Northern California, YAZ was raised on and molded by a strict diet of powerful female icons, surrealism, electronic music, and transgressive art, all of which bleeds into every avenue of her creative work.
Taking notes from icons such as Lady GaGa, Cher, and Madonna, YAZ’s music fuses electronic soundscapes with taboo ideology to create a genre-pushing sonic experience for the listener to transcend. her live performances define transgressive art, and in tandem with her music and the total sphere of her artistry, reflect and create commentary on both the current social climate, and the foundational infrastructures of society as a whole.
In 2018, YAZ graduated with honors from UCLA, earning a major in Communications and a minor in Film, TV, and Digital Media with a concentration in directing from the university's renowned School of Theater, Film and Television.
In 2019, she launched her production company Yaz Media and began her work in the realm of social impact entertainment, most notably through collaborations with artist and Oscar history-maker Kelly Mantle, and through her work with Library of Congress archived platform WERRRK.com.
In October 2020, YAZ released her debut EP, Eternity, featuring the lead single, "Judgement." Along with the EP, she released the Eternity capsule collection through her design label Yaz Mania to rave reviews.
In February 2022, YAZ released her debut album, Inferno to critical acclaim.
The album is a sonic journey through the nine circles of Hell inspired by Dante Alighieri’s cantica Inferno from The Divine Comedy, and includes the singles
“Lust” and “Heresy.”
In addition to the album, she released her directorial debut, "Heresy", the music video for Inferno’s second single in March 2022. Self-directed and produced, "Heresy" is a rallying cry against the demonization of empowered female sexuality, that reimagines the story of Lilith and Eve in the Garden of Eden through the lens of female autonomy and agency.
In March 2024, YAZ released her second album, Persephone. The record features the singles “Pomegranates,” and “Abduction.” Along with the album, she released a self-directed and produced visualizer for the record’s first single “Pomegranates” and her self-directed and produced short film, Abduction for the record’s second single of the same name.
In April 2024, YAZ released her debut short film, Abduction. Inspired by her real-life experience being unlawfully institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital at age 15, Abduction intertwines the mythology of Persephone’s journey of self-actualization from the archetypal innocent maiden to the queen of Hades with YAZ's own experience in the psychiatric hospital to explore the themes of the loss of innocence, individuation, resurrection, and rebirth through the lens of bondage, BDSM, and forced submission on a societal level.
Abduction was released globally on April 12, 2024 on the official YAZ X Music YouTube Channel, and will be screened at art and film festivals domestically and internationally, throughout the 2024-2025 festival season, including Seattle's acclaimed Erotic Art Festival from April 26-28, 2024.
Persephone is now available to stream and purchase on all digital music platforms globally including Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, YouTube, Bandcamp, Deezer, Soundcloud, Pandora, and more.
For more on the world of Persephone, and YAZ’s other work, please explore YAZ’s website and connect with her social media.
SOCIAL MEDIA
AND STREAMING
For more information on the world of PERSEPHONE, and YAZ’s other work, connect with all of her official social media channels and subscribe to her official profiles on your favorite streaming platforms.
Social Media Masterlink
Streaming Links