Krista Bursey featured in MTAF Art Direction for Hybrid (Elsiane’s debut album) Mend3' x 4'Oil on Canvas 5 Original Paintings for Hybrid Album6" x 6"Oil on Canvas Courtesy of Elsiane Hybrid Digipack foldable CD insertGraphic design featuring 5 original paintings for Hybrid Album Vaporous Single CD Graphic design featuring Mend painting Hybrid Live Show Visuals: UnderhelpedDigital Collage11" x 8" Mend (to Fix, to Repair)Choreography and Dance performance by Leah Archambault Bend WillChoreography and Dance performance by Leah Archambault Final EscapeGlass Sculptural Head with water & ink HybridPencil on Paper2' x 3'Courtesy of Elsiane 5 Original Paintings for Hybrid Album6" x 6"Oil on Canvas Courtesy of Elsiane In editing collaboration with Fred Casia, 2007 Make-up & Garment for Live Show Performance and Editorial MarketingLeather Floral Garment and Hair by Cam Patey 2007 More Than a Friend (MTAF) was a fine art and design studio founded by artists Krista Bursey and Jason Wasserman. Active from 2001 to 2009, MTAF functioned as an experimental platform, merging both artists’ distinct practices into a unified visual language. Elsiane is a musical duo composed of Peruvian singer and songwriter Elsieanne Caplette and musician Stéphane Sotto. Formed in 2000, their name merges both identities, reflecting a deeply collaborative approach to creation. Their sound traverses genres—jazz, classical, rock, and electronica—resulting in a layered and emotionally charged sonic world. MTAF led the art direction for the majority of Elsiane’s visual identity for Hybrid, including concept, graphics, album design, and live performance elements such as projected visuals, costume, and styling. The visual universe originated from the painting Mend—conceived by MTAF and painted by Krista Bursey—which became the album cover and a central icon of the project. Mend embodies the contortion present in Elsieanne Caplette’s estranged and visceral voice. At once organic and ambiguous, the form evokes an internal organ—something intimate yet unfamiliar. It exists in duality: inside and outside, masculine and feminine, human and other. The works presented here include the CD design and painting series featured in the Hybrid fold-out digipak. For the live show, the visual direction extended across the entire stage environment. Projection, costume, makeup, and hair were conceived as a single interconnected system. A key challenge was translating still imagery into movement, resulting in a hybrid approach combining live-action footage and animation. In collaboration with contemporary dancer and choreographer Leah Archambault (also vocalist of U.T.I.), we developed contortion-based performances echoing the physicality of the Mend form. Her choreography—performed in a faceless zentai suit—resulted in striking, visceral visuals for the songs Mend and Bent Will. For the animated sequences, we collaborated with Fred Casia (Parnell Collective), translating hand-drawn pencil works and paintings into motion.
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