For the last five weeks, I’ve sunk myself deep into a virtual residency with Photo Trouvée Magazine. It has challenged my thinking around collage and photography in so many ways. I’ve learned everything from the best glue to use for different materials to discovering wonderful creative people and how to keep going with creating even when motivation seems to dry up.
I’ve been making a lot of stuff. Some of it really interesting to me. Some of it, well, laboratory experiments.
In the middle of it all, I sat down with my friends over at Ghost Stories YYC for a podcast interview about the process of combining storytelling through writing and making visual art. Mat and John and great. It was such a fun interview. I got involved with them through my pal Kelly Isaak (check out her work. She is amazing). She and I teamed up and created a word-visual pairing for a story we created called Mare, which will make its way into the world on Oct. 17 at the Ruberto Ostberg Gallery in Calgary.
I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to work this way: words and visuals. But, let's be real, it’s like doubling down on the whole vulnerable to the world thing. This year, though. I don’t know. I’m just busy sticking it all out there. Albertine made its debut in August, the Mare collaboration coming next week.
My chat with Mat and John stirred the pot. Working like this felt genuine, like I just had to get going and see what happened. Out came the first poem I have written in a while.
It was an amazing process to go searching for materials to make the art to go beside the writing. I loved the main image from The Death of Barbara Radziwiłł by Józef Simmler. I also felt like it was a good time for another lab experiment and try different styles to see what worked. I’m definitely settling into my 19th century gothic vibe, but it was fun to see what came out.
I’m excited to start doing much more of this, and share it with my Substack readers. I’m going to keep the gems here and off of socials. So, if you like what you see, stay tuned. I’d love to hear which one you like best.
