T H E O T H E R D A Y
THE OTHER DAY: BERLIN
Names: Cheyenne Tulsa and Finn Lafcadio O’Hanlon
Age: 25 and 27
Relationship: Sister and brother
A mix of Hawaiian, Native American and French, Cheyenne and Finn were born on the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. They were raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Los Angeles and Sydney before settling in Berlin. Cheyenne is a young a model and video presenter with an interview series coming out focusing on the art and fashion world. Finn combines sketching, painting and photography in his very own collages that he presents in diary chapters collected from his travels around the world.
We met both at Galerie Koenig in Berlin and talked about their teenage years in Sydney, attempts to run away from home and interesting tattoo choices.
Finn: Cheyenne, if you have one, what is the most important story you remember of us growing up in Sydney?
Cheyenne: Can we turn this off and go off the record? (laughs) When I was around 15 Finn and I were really becoming a team. We had the same friends and went to the same house parties. Before it was just like “Maybe I want to dress like him a little bit. Maybe I want a toy as well on his birthday.” But then when you get older you realize he is more than just a brother. He is also a really good friend. And a secret keeper. So I am thinking: Should I tell a story now? (laughs) But is there any story I don’t know, Finn? Finn was pretty crazy. Everybody knew my brother in Sydney. I didn’t even have a name for while. I was just “Finn’s little sister.”
Finn: I can’t think of a story on the top of my head because I was always so high. I can’t remember anything. That’s the issue. I fried to many brain cells. I think I was cooking the brain and stirred it and then turned it into scrambled eggs. (laughs)
Nike: How would you describe yourself back then, Cheyenne?
Cheyenne: I think like any 15 year old I was finding myself.
Finn: You had a bit of trouble being bullied.
Cheyenne: Yeah. I am very happy now in Berlin to have such a great group of friends, especially girlfriends. I didn’t grow up with girls my own age liking me. I think that was why I was hanging out with Finn and older people. I was a bit more mature than I was and wasn’t really fitting in. I even ran away from home one day. For a night. (laughs)
Finn: Cheyenne left her window open even though she was on the second floor and left a really dramatic note. Like in the movies. It said: “I am not telling you where I am.”
Cheyenne: And “XOX”. (laughs)
Finn: And it was positioned in her room so it was very obvious to see. My parents were like: “She’s at her boyfriend’s.”
Cheyenne: I took the bus to a local mall and my boyfriend was in the car park. He was waiting in his car super freaked out because he was afraid of my dad. And as soon as I got in, my dad called me “Come back.” My boyfriend turned around and I was home within the next couple of hours.
Finn: No one was worried at all. We were just like: “Ok, come back.” There was not a mystery where she was at all. A very well-curated running away. (laughs) All the movie tropes were there.
Cheyenne: Ok, I have a story now. Finn got a tattoo on his foot. Kind of a tattoo. How old where you?
Finn: Like seventeen or eighteen.
Cheyenne:I had curfew so I was home at midnight. Finn also had a curfew but he was out. He came home bursting through my bedroom door, super drunk. And he went “I got a tattoo.” And I was like “What?” He took off the sock. It was crusty and infected and nasty and bleeding. He got a razor blade with cigarette ash and got a prison tag. He got it at a house party. It said “F” and it was the worst tattoo ever.
Nike: Do you still have it?
Finn: No. Just a little bit. Sometimes I go through my photographs I took at house parties. And I am like: “Oh my God, what the fuck were you doing?” There was so much craziness.
Words & Photography Nike Martens
