What images are pinned to your studio wall?
The images around me build and renew over time… One image/voice keeping me company in my studio is a small drawing by my grandmother Sylvia Moon, made in the mid 1930’s, of a cactus sitting on a windowsill, framed by lace curtains. It measures only 8 x 13 cm, and has a cartoon-like boldness but also a delicacy… I find it rather mysterious.
Name an artwork that has made an impact on you?
I recently watched Cléo from 5 to 7 written and directed by Agnès Varda (1962), and was struck by its potency and vibrancy. It evokes the intimate consciousness of the central character Cleo during a highly turbulent two hours of her life, played out almost in real time, and is somehow both buoyant and haunting.
What are you reading?
I’m currently re-reading Ice by Anna Kavan (1967). This intense dystopian vision is powerful, disturbing and exquisitely crafted, the projection of climate crisis and examination of human nature really resonates. I’ve also been reading about the two years Kavan spent living in New Zealand in 1941/42 (Anna Kavan’s New Zealand edited by Jennifer Sturm), and the impact the landscape here had on her fascination for the psycho-topographical link between nature and the human mind.
What music are you listening to?
Quiet Times by Jessica Pratt, for its hypnotic and shape-shifting qualities, Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising for its otherworldly, sometimes ominous vibes…Arthur Russell’s Iowa Dream and Cate Le Bon’s Mug Museum have also been on repeat.