And mtrjm? He still signs his work MTRJM . But now, at the bottom of every piece, in tiny letters, he adds: for May. the bloom is mutual.
In 2021, lifestyle curator May Syma and her partner, known only as "MTRJM," turned their quarantine rut into an experimental art project called Fylm Bloom , capturing the raw, unfiltered rebirth of a couple on the edge.
In a 2023 interview, a reporter asked May Syma what the project taught her. She smiled, held up a cracked camcorder, and said: fylm Bloom Up A Swinger Couple Story 2021 mtrjm - may syma 1
They called it Fylm Bloom —a deliberate misspelling, mtrjm insisted, because “perfect spelling is dead.”
The final tape, dated May 19, 2021, went semi-viral within their niche. It’s a single shot: May and mtrjm on their apartment balcony at sunset. No music. No voiceover. Just them holding hands over the railing, watching a city slowly reopen. A bird lands. May whispers, “This is the lifestyle.” mtrjm doesn’t answer. He just squeezes her hand. The camera battery dies. And mtrjm
“A couple story isn’t about falling in love. It’s about deciding to stay in the frame—even when the lighting is terrible.”
Her partner, an elusive video artist who signed his work only as mtrjm (matter over mind), noticed it first. They weren't fighting. They were simply… fading. A couple story without conflict is just a roommate agreement. the bloom is mutual
Fylm Bloom never became a franchise. It remained a one-season wonder, a 2021 time capsule. But it changed May Syma. She rebranded. Her new show, Real Bloom , strips away the curated entertainment. It’s just couples. Real fights. Real silences. Real second chances.
“We need a new language,” mtrjm said one Tuesday, pushing a vintage camcorder across the breakfast table. “No scripts. No filters. Just bloom.”
May Syma had built a career on the polished surface of lifestyle entertainment. Her Instagram was a symphony of oat milk lattes and linen sheets. But by the spring of 2021, the surface had cracked.