Main bio
RELLIX Studio is the creative platform of Latrell Hickem, a multidisciplinary artist working across graphic design, photography, film, music, and any new storytelling medium that answers the question, "How can this feel more alive?" It is where ideas become images, images become worlds, and each project is given the structure, atmosphere, and intention to live beyond a single format. RELL (a shortened form of Latrell) is the creative alias and carried forward as the voice behind the work. RELLIX Studio is the stage where that voice is developed, presented, and applied.
The name RELLIX came to mind with “Rell” and “IX,” the Roman numeral for nine. Born on September 9, I've always seen the number as a marker of origin and a symbol of identity, balance, and luck.
My practice moves between disciplines because stories rarely belong to only one book. One idea may start with photography. A photo series may become a film. A film may need a sound, a color, or a question. I approach each project as part of a larger system. An opportunity to build a feeling people can recognize, step in, and remember. My north star is simple: build work that people don’t just look at, but contemplate.
I was born with a physical disability called "bilateral congenital radial head dislocation," which meant I started physical therapy before I really understood what “therapy” was. It taught me early how to adapt, experiment, and keep moving.
it's me
I like to think that in another life, I might have been a botanist or wildlife conservationist. I love rotating through houseplants (especially after winter claims a few) and learning animlas has only made me more fascinated by the give-and-take relationship we have with them. Outside of work, I cycle through music genres to add to my listening palette (from rock and country to Latin music), dream about having the budget for an absurdly large LEGO collection, and switch between vintage cinema like "The Last Laugh" and "12 Angry Men" and modern works like "Nope" and the "Loki" Series.
My Process
Starting with the feeling, not format
Before I decide whether to turn something into a photo collection, a film, a design system, or a piece of art, I want to understand the weight behind it. Ask anybody, and most projects do not begin with "Make me a poster" or "Make me a video." They begin with a mindset, a memory, or a problem that someone is attempting to solve. I like to determine which medium best conveys that feeling, and then work toward it.
feeling first, medium second
no single format fits everything
Creating inside real constraints
Tight budgets, one-day shoots, borrowed gear, and clients who need it "yesterday" are not always ideal, especially when you're working alone in so many fields. I've learned to make confident creative decisions quickly, adapt when a shot, sequence, or layout isn't working, and stay true to the main goal even when the process gets tangled. Constraints do not lower the bar for me. They change the route.
One vision, many hands
Even though I work under one name, almost nothing I create is done alone. Directing a music video requires trusting performers, engineers, and whoever is holding a light stand at 11 p.m. Producing a product involves sharing ideas with other people. That back-and-forth is important to me even when someone else's instinct expands the work beyond what I could have ever imagined. RELLIX Studio is my throughline, but I am not always the only one in the room speaking.
the work is shared, even when the name isn't
details build trust.
Making the atmosphere visible
The most memorable aspect of a project is rarely the visible. It's the color grade that changes the mood of a scene, the grain overlay on an image, the transition in a video that makes a cut feel seamless, or the small audio texture that most people will not consciously notice but will definitely feel. That's where I focus my attention: the details that create atmosphere and, ultimately, trust in the work itself!