The “White Art Collective” calls itself a “community of artists of European descent whose mission is to preserve, promote, celebrate and expand upon [their] shared European culture,” according to their website. It doesn’t take a lot, though, to see it for what it really is: a collective of neo-Nazi artists, writers and performers working to bring their racist garbage into mainstream culture.
The White Art Collective (or “WAC”) was founded by the pseudonymous “Jeff Winston,” who acts as their director and produces his own pieces of “white art” as well. His frequent collaborator and a premier performer of the WAC is a singer of pretentious neo-Nazi folk music who goes by the name “Hiraeth“. Together the two have gathered a large following of white supremacists who endeavor to make their “art” palatable to the general public.
But what happens when this neo-Nazi version of “The Captain & Tennille” have their true identities revealed to the general public? How will their conviction to racial superiority fare in the spotlight of public scrutiny? We’ll find out as we expose these alt-right art goofs in this report. Read on!
“Jeff Winston” and the “White Art Collective”
Beginning in 2017, the White Art Collective has platformed white nationalist neo-Nazi musicians, visual artists, writers and other creators who express their racism through their particular medium. One example of a WAC artist we have reported on in the past is Julie “Jewels” Green, a former anti-choice activist who took the short leap from opposing reproductive rights to full-blown white nationalism, singing as “Mama P” in the alt-right folk duo “The Mamas and the Pepes.” Another example is comic book illustrator Donald Jackson of West Seneca, New York, who wrote and illustrated white nationalist comics under the aliases “Donald Kent” and “American Zarathustra” (and still does). Another associated artist was Joshua Thayer LeGoff, an illustrator using the alias “JinjerZilla,” who wrote and illustrated racist comics under the alias “JinjerZilla.”
Early archived posts of the WAC website, which were mainly reviews of pop culture with a racist perspective, show that a frequent contributor went by the moniker “Logan McRay,” but primary authorship of the the site was eventually attributed to “Jeff Winston,” who became recognized as the administrator of the site. An example of these critiques is one screed in which “Jeff Winston,” writing under his other frequently-used alias “HuWhite Lion,” described a Justin Timberlake album as “wiggity wack” and wrote, “…JT’s [Justin Timberlake’s] undoubtedly Jewish handlers are hedging their bets in a cynical attempt to simultaneously co-opt and profit from the rising tide of White Identity.”
While the early versions of the WAC website described the group as “collection of Alt-Right, Hard-Right and Pro-White artists,” Winston later attempted to soften the image of the group, describing it as “a community of artists of European descent whose mission is to preserve, promote, celebrate and expand upon [their] shared European culture.” In interviews with other white nationalist notables, Winston outlined his intention for the WAC as a way to bring white nationalism into the mainstream, making it more acceptable to audiences who were on the fence between mainstream conservatism and outright white supremacy. His strategy was to create the image of so-called “white” art as a legitimate category to counter the mainstream entertainment field, which he perceived as “anti-white,” run by Jews and people of color.
Despite this attempt to make the WAC’s image more benign, the pro-racist, pro-fascist, anti-inclusive message of the WAC is apparent. One song written and performed by Jeff Winston was entitled “Ode to Robert E. Lee,” which, as the title explicitly states, is an ode to the 19th century pro-slavery Confederate general. In this song Winston also alluded to the so-called “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia of 2017. Winston had direct experience with the rally, which we’ll detail later in this piece. In this song Winston sang:
At the battle of Charlottesville
Many men, they showed their steel
For the GeneralIn August of 17
Rebs and Yanks we reconvene
No more brother warsAnd since they gave us hell
They’re gonna hear the rebel yell
A-ooooohhhhhh
The WAC promotes white nationalist performers and artists on their website as well as on websites like YouTube, Bitchute, DLive and other websites that host multimedia content. As part of Winston’s long-time ambition to create a SXSW-styled neo-Nazi arts festival to “reinvigorate the richness of our culture…in order to galvanize our people for the battle ahead,” Winston also organized a small, closely-guarded gathering in 2022 called “WAC Fest” which featured some truly cringe-worthy performances, including one by noted racist “Pistachio Girl” Emily Youcis. Joining Youcis in the stomach-churning performance was a WAC headliner who uses the stage name “Hiraeth.” Together, Hiraeath and Youcis butchered Nirvana’s song “Something in the Way,” followed by a genuinely awful (in both content and performance) racist rap piece by Youcis. If you have a strong stomach, a clip of a portion of the performance is below:
This is what passes for art in the White Art Collective.
WAC Headliner “Hiraeth”
“Hiraeth,” a long-time member of the WAC who shows her real face online but hides her true name, writes and performs pretentious so-called “pro-white” folk music, celebrating historical fascist figures like Adolf Hitler. One song titled “Our Greatest Hero” featured an image of a painting of Neuschwanstein Castle by Hitler in the YouTube video of the song. She sang:
Our greatest hero has fallen
He will rise to meet us once again
This time we wonʼt forsake him
A future we can believe in
A project Hiraeth made a big deal about was a concept album called “Metamorphosis” which she explained was inspired by the obscure American Nazi figure Francis Parker Yockey. Yockey, who committed suicide by swallowing cyanide in a California county jail while clad only in underwear and knee-high SS-style boots, is a much admired figure among neo-Nazis.
Besides pretentious odes to historical fascists, Hiraeth also at times performs together with Jeff Winston. One song that they performed together and featured on her YouTube page is an embarrassing but outwardly benign song called “The Woofie Wag.” Much of the music by Hiraeth, Winston and the WAC in general intentionally attempts to project a harmless appearance, which is part of their strategy to “red pill” newcomers to their racist ideology. But while many of the songs are outwardly benign, racism, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and a rejection of progressive values are thematic undercurrents throughout the WAC’s oeuvre.
The WAC also produces dumb little skits, like one space opera parody titled “Star Boat” in which Winston plays a “space cowboy” who, along with cohorts played by other WAC losers, travel through space and encounter “Skeletoria,” played by Hiraeth. The entire production is incredibly asinine and some might argue that it’s relatively harmless, but the fact is that productions like these are intended to be a “gateway drug” of sorts to the white nationalist rhetoric that forms the core of their program.
Not only an online group of neo-Nazi misfit toys, the White Art Collective is also a limited liability company, registered with the state of Indiana as WAC MEDIA LLC under a commercial registered agent and does business by selling merchandise like art prints and streaming music. One art print is a poster by WAC artist “J LaDArc” called “It’s OK,” referring to the phrase “It’s OK to be white,” which white supremacists commonly use to express their perceived victimhood.
Currently, the WAC is working on a feature-length film entitled Black Specter, which Jeff Winston described on the website thusly:
Black Specter is an idea that I, Jeff Winston, the founder of the White Art Collective, have been developing since 2016. It’s the story of a young woman’s red-pill process told through the lens of a haunted house/psychological thriller using symbolism and imagery from WWII, The Black Plague and other culturally and historically significant events.
Winston claimed on their website that they have achieved their $25,000 crowdfunding goal and are now casting for roles.
From “Jeff Winston” to Benjamin Joseph Arvin
While “Jeff Winston” had been operating under a pseudonym for a number of years, numerous factors led us to the discovery of his real identity, not the least of which was his inability to keep his face covered during his appearances on neo-Nazi live streams as well as in-person events, like the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. We discovered that “Jeff Winston” (aka “HuWhite Lion”) was actually Benjamin Joseph Arvin of Bloomington, Indiana. We also learned that Arvin has a long history in music and film as well as white nationalism.
Born on April 9, 1981, Arvin grew up in in Indiana, attending Bedford-North Lawrence High School, class of ’99. After that he attended Indiana University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in TV/Radio/Film in 2004. In 2007, he moved to Austin, TX, seeking stardom in the thriving music scene there. Years before the alt-right or Trump, Ben Arvin was well on his way to becoming a total racist weirdo.
In a series of bizarre YouTube videos from 2010 Arvin made an attempt at becoming a self-help guru with cheery, proto-fascist videos promoting his self-published manifesto Navigating the Abyss of Modern American Culture. In these videos (which are still up at the time of writing) he explained how a “combination of cultural forces” began to “break” him down during a ten year period of “alienation” and “confusion.” This lead to his revelation that “problems within our culture have allowed for the breakdown of our communities.”
Through cheesy Casio keyboard music and bad attempts at humor, Arvin mugged for the camera while describing his solution: “In order for our people to survive and thrive, we have to intentionally create an environment that cultivates the healthy courting, coupling and romantic love of our people,” which turned out to be a telling precursor for his later advocacy of so-called “pro-white” arts. Strangely, he also advocated for drinking plenty of water and eating plenty of fiber to help one’s “excretions” (generally sound advice, but a little out of place here).
Arvin did not make much headway into the music scene, though it wasn’t for lack of trying, as indicated by a 2013 audition he posted to YouTube of himself playing the bass guitar. In an interview many years later on a right-wing live stream he favorably compared his bass playing ability to bass guitar innovator Les Claypool of the band Primus. We feel he was being overly generous in his assessment, but you can judge yourself since the video is still available on YouTube.
Failing to achieve either self-help guru or rock star status, Arvin moved back to his native Indiana to have a go at becoming a movie producer. With a self-described emphasis on being “Pro-Middle American, Pro-European American, Anti-Hollywood,” Arvin produced a self-financed horror film entitled Hills and Hollers, the trailer for which is still visible (at the time of writing) on the YouTube page for his production outfit Arvin Ingenuity. Arvin himself played the role of “Frank” in the film. While the film gained some local noteworthiness, Arvin’s main “claim to fame” as far as we are concerned happened the next year, in 2017.
That, of course, was the year in which hordes of white supremacists swarmed Charlottesville, Virginia from August 11 to 12 in the “Unite the Right” rally. This violent gathering resulted in the death of antifascist counter-protestor Heather Heyer by neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. and the assault on DeAndre Harris, an African-American man, at the hands of neo-Nazis participating in the rally.
Ben Arvin’s contribution to the violence of the rally did not go unnoticed, although his identity had not been ascertained at that time. Arvin’s face was identified by antifascist researchers as the neo-Nazi calling himself “HuWhite Lion” on Twitter. This early identification proved valuable to us. We were able to identify Arvin in many instances during this event from the widespread media coverage that resulted. What’s worse, Arvin was present at the assault on Harris, cheering on his neo-Nazi hooligan cohorts.
A look into Arvin’s life leading up to the rally showed a predilection for violence. In July 2017, the month before the event, he was arrested in Indiana for “battery resulting in bodily injury” in an altercation with two African-American persons. Arvin undoubtedly looked forward to Charlottesville as an opportunity for more racially motivated violence.
After the “Unite the Right” rally, Arvin focused his efforts on a less direct approach to spreading white nationalism by developing the White Art Collective, sticking with the alias “Jeff Winston,” and bringing dozens of white nationalist artists of various disciplines into the fold. We tracked Arvin back to his Indiana home by following social media, which also resulted in a happy surprise with the discovery of his fascist fiancée and partner-in-racism, the pseudonymous “Hiraeth,” pictured below up to some Halloween hijinx with Arvin.
The Role of “Hiraeth” Played By: Mandi Renae Gillespie
To confirm, we consulted with our comrades of the ANTIFA™ Dog Division and asked them to analyze the Halloween photo above through their Antifascist-dog Recognition Facility (A.R.F.). With this cutting-edge technology, they compared the photo with numerous other dog photos posted on social media by “Hiraeth” through the quantum AI neural-network power of their HyperMax Computrons. The result? Identity confirmed. A video of the A.R.F. (patent pending) in action is below.
We learned that “Jeff Winston” and “Hiraeth” were not only collaborators in the White Art Collective, but were also an item “IRL,” thanks to social media posts on Facebook, as well as information we had previously collected. “Hiraeth,” who is actually Mandi Renae Gillespie, and Arvin live together in the same Bloomington, Indiana house at which many merchandise images from the WAC web store were photographed and from which many photos posted on Twitter by Gillespie’s main Twitter account “@hiraethmusic9” are posted.
She didn’t always live in Indiana however. Previously, Gillespie lived in North Carolina and was known as Mandi Landell during a short-lived marriage, but reverted back to her maiden name after its dissolution. For a time, Gillespie posted TikTok videos under the name “@emmajeanmoore” before changing to “@hiraethmusic9.” We suspect it was an attempt to throw curious people (like us) off the trail, but small deceptions like that never last long and we eventually saw through it.
Those weren’t the only names she has used online. She has also been known as “@Anglomaly” and “@_Wi1l_2_Pow3r” on Twitter, as well as many variations of that theme. Her Twitter posts during this earlier period presented a far edgier image than the folk-singing-Hitler-loving forest waif image she has cultivated since, posting insane conspiracy theories about Hitler still being alive and images of American Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell with the hashtag “#NationalSuperheroDay.”
In a guest appearance on a neo-Nazi podcast called Dreamweavers (one of the co-hosts of which was Rachel Carter, wife of neo-Nazi podcaster and writer Jesse “Borzoi” Ogden, on whom we have previously reported) Gillespie described her “red pill” awakening. She explained how the likes of libertarian Ron Paul, disgraced former POTUS Donald Trump and over-boiled-pot-roast-slash-radio-host Alex Jones opened her eyes to the “JQ,” or the “Jewish question,” a code term for antisemitic conspiracy theories. You can listen to a snippet of it here:
While Gillespie was spending her free time as a racist Twitter crank, she was also unintentionally building a reputation among online Twitter Nazis for showing “extensive history of betraying pro-White guys and then pitting them against each other,” as one Twitter Nazi put it.
Gillespie’s use of her real face as both online neo-Nazi and wannabe singer-songwriter proved to be her undoing as it was noted among other anonymous comrades around the internet who keep track of such things. On her artist page at Bandmix Gillespie called herself “MandiRenae,” located in Wilmington, NC and sought other musicians with which to collaborate. While in North Carolina she worked for a time as a hair dresser and cosmetologist.
Gillespie announced on her YouTube page on March 15th that she would be releasing a new album soon and then would be taking a brief hiatus because she is having a baby with her fiancée. She did not name Arvin as her fiancée in the announcement, so we’ve saved her the trouble and did it for her. You’re welcome and mazel tov! But seriously, we believe that no one is born a racist. Children learn this behavior from their parents, family and peers. We can only hope that this child eventually escapes the stranglehold of hate that rules the lives of the parents.
Fifteen Minutes of Fascist Fame
While some may argue that letting washed-out neo-Nazi musicians and film makers do whatever they do in their own pathetic little echo chambers doesn’t harm the rest of society, we disagree. The White Art Collective attempts to make “White Supremacy Great Again” by easing their accessible forms of racism into an entertainment world that is working hard to rectify the inequities of the past.
The road to fame is a tough one. For “Jeff Winston” and “Hiraeth” their fifteen-minutes-of-fame are almost up, about to be replaced with a much longer and tougher road under their real names Benjamin Joseph Arvin and Mandi Renae Gillespie. As for the rest of the WACkos of the White Art Collective, the clock is ticking.
Many thanks to all the anonymous comrades out there who contributed to this piece!
