In romantic, familial, platonic and explicitly artistic spaces, creativity helps us to foster and strengthen our relationships. Speaking to a host of creatives and the yang to their yin, we celebrate and honour the mulitiplicity of ways connectivity nourishes art.
DANNY BIRCHNALL AND HESTIA LINFORD-ALLEN
Fashion designer Danny Birchnall and writer Hestia Linford-Allen are best friends from Norwich.
Danny and Hestia, 2019
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
DB: I’m Danny Birchnall and I’m a designer, working mainly with womenswear. My work is centered around themes of sexuality, fetish, and satanic imagery.
HLA: I'm Hestia Linford-Allen (I know it's a mouthful, Danny constantly feels the need to remind me). At the moment, I'm working on developing my writing as a creative outlet and I model for Danny's fashion collections.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
HLA: We met the same way every wannabe-edgy couple in 2010s does...in Berghain.
DB: I met Hestia in Year 10 art class in high school. I remember we bonded during a trip to the Tate, in which we spent the day together. I left my assigned group to climb to the top with her to the viewing gallery, which she would later embroider for me as a gift of our first meeting.
Hestia, in clothes designed and made by Danny, 2019
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
DB: Her knowledge. I could, and frequently do, sit and talk with Hestia for long stretches of time about everything, soaking up her vast information on politics, religion, history, literature, astrology - you name it, she knows something about it. Her irreverence - she could happily be alone with herself all day. And that she’s not afraid to just do it. Whatever it may be.
HLA: Danny has that rare personality trait where everyone either likes him or hates him straightaway, whereas I am always too scared to actually say anything at all. His confidence and determination is the thing that inspires me most about him. He's never afraid to speak his mind, which sometimes can be a problem - I live to argue - but I do admire that hugely in him.
Hestia, in clothes designed and made by Danny. Collection: 'The Devil Gave Birth in a Corset', 2020
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
HLA: It's always an ego boost to be labelled a 'muse' for Danny, even if from time to time a muse's requirements include treading through broken glass in Primark stilettos. To be a source of artistic inspiration for a person so talented is sometimes intimidating. The first time we shot together, I felt like I was in the presence of one of the greats, though I don't know who the greats are, exactly. It seems silly now that I was ever scared of someone who has impacted my life in ways I will never be able to repay.
DB: As well as being an incredible writer, to the point where I have her work tattooed on my body, Hestia is my muse. She is the muse for everything I do in fashion, every sketch is her, every dress is for her, I think of her when I design and she becomes the clothes. She also models the clothing when it is photographed. I remember our last shoot fondly - an hour drive to her father's house, 2 days, 6 hour shoots, 20 looks, freezing cold, the day before New Years. We drove home with the radio on and the heater on full whack. She fell asleep on the passenger-side. I feel warm when I think of this.
A creative relationship to me is one in which both counterparts are equal - she gets from me, I hope, as much as I get from her (in other ways obviously). There is genuinely no one I would rather be with than her. I mean that.
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
HLA: As a writer, my work often centers around personal experience and documentation of the things that seem the most mundane about adolescence. Danny's influence has been that I am so much more open minded to things that I never thought were available to me. It's not as if we're having crazy nights in Vegas or anything, but his perspective has given me a hunger for life. He has made me exist in every moment.
DB: I’m no longer afraid. She has a way of talking in which your head could be on fire, and suddenly she makes everything okay again. I can see her and it all kinda just makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, I hate her guts sometimes, but she is genuinely my favourite person in the whole world, besides my mother, of course.
She just makes you think you can do it - not just think, know you can.
SUSAN MERRICK AND BARBARA TOUATI-EVANS
Multidisciplinary artist Susan Merrick and freelance artist and educator Barbara Touati-Evans are collaborators.
Collaborative performance 'Touch Cells' by Barbara and Susan as part of ACE funded project 'Detangling the Knots', 2019
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
SM: My name is Susan Merrick, I live in Aldershot in Hampshire but grew up in the North, near Hull. I'm a multi-disciplinary artist who does a lot of socially engaged work as research (conversation spaces). I then respond with performance and work to camera, making photos, film, considering spaces.
My main themes are language, power and access, and being a feminist, feminism underpins much of my work, constantly challenging me to try different approaches to my work. In 2019 I co-created the podcast Woman Up! with Desperate Artwives (Amy Dignam) in association with the Womens Art Library at Goldsmiths. I present and edit this podcast and, as such, get to talk to the most amazing women artists, writers, art historians and campaigners from across the globe! I have also spent the past few years running a socially engaged project called 'Statements in Semaphore', considering the hidden voices of women, how to access these and then make the voices more visible through my work. The work was kicked off by my frustration at realising the national archives had so many 'missing' voices of women. I initially did a performance on the external roof balcony of the National Archives building, using semaphore to signal out some of the words I had found written about suffragette women in prison, by male prison officers. The project grew from there.
BTE: I am Barbara Touati-Evans, a visual artist whose main practice is wool and crochet. I am interested in using crochet, a traditionally domestic craft, to make installations and sculptures that explore and collide with a variety of contexts, such as meditation, feminism and neuroscience. I like to engage audiences in tactile and surprising experiences.
I live in a area of the country in Farnborough, Hampshire, part of Rushmoor Borough Council, where there is a rich craft culture at a private level, but where contemporary visual arts are not really represented publicly, so a lot of my work has been been about reaching out to the community through workshops and projects as well as developing connections with local partners.
This year, I have worked on a dance project called The Imagination Museum run by Made By Katie Green, where I made an installation following dancers. I have also done a yarn bombing (where you cover urban furniture with knitted/crocheted pieces) with local artist Gemma MacLennan in the main shopping Street in Farnborough and have run creative workshops for people recovering from mental health difficulties with the Recovery College NHS Trust. Of course, now that we are in lockdown, a lot of my projects have either been stopped or transformed. It really feels like a new completely new way of doing things, a new dimension.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
BTE: A few years ago. Maybe a bit more. When Susan was in the middle of her MA in Fine Art and I was trying to connect with other contemporary artists in my area. I heard about her project 'Statements In Semaphore' through the Rushmoor Arts Hub. Since then, we have collaborated through a number of projects, her own and my own, particularly my current project 'Detangling The Knots'.
SM: Barbara contacted me and we met up at UCA in Farnham while I was doing my MA in 2017. We mainly came together as we wanted to challenge one-another's practice. Barbara's large scale wool sculptures were static installations and she wanted to introduce more performance and film work within them. So she invited me to interfere with them, with my live actions. My work felt a little lost at times, and I wanted very much to respond to someone else's practice so it felt like the ideal opportunity. Together we create these multi-faceted sculptural performances, sometimes to live audiences, sometimes in hidden or more private places. Sometimes recorded. Sometimes with footage and sound projected into the space too. We create and immerse ourselves in each others space, gently, softly, considerately, in response to the context of the space, environment or project that we are working on.
LEFT: ''Touch Cells'; RIGHT: 'Two Women', performance by Barbara and Susan, 2018
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
SM: Barbara has more patience than me. She considers things and is more gentle with her work. She makes things that can last, as well as things that can disappear or be taken away. My own work is often not as tactile, it's more digital or ephemeral. I love how when we work together it often becomes both tactile and ephemeral. Intimate spaces that can invite audiences to watch or even become immersed in. I am inspired by Barbara during the performances that we do too. As we move around the space, we are always aware of one another, in our peripheral vision, or simply just aware of the presence of the other person. The speed we work, the pace, the rhythm, where we go in the space, when we start, when we stop - it is all through our connection in that moment. So we are constantly inspiring or challenging each other.
BTE: I love Susan's energy and boldness. She is always up for trying something new, like spending time with neuroscientists at the University of Southampton for 'Detangling The Knots', or responding to live indie rock music for an experimental day festival organised by Forward4WizTrust. She is really good at reaching and communicating with people from all sorts of backgrounds, particularly in her commitment to making art accessible to people who are not from the art world. I have also been really inspired by her bravery to engage with emotionally strong subjects such as domestic violence. At a practical level, Susan has been really successful at attracting national funding from the Arts Council and I have been inspired to try that out. She is also very optimistic and resilient!
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
BTE: Our collaborations have mainly taken the form of exploring the merging and extending of our artistic practices, large scale crochet installations for me and performance/video for Susan. Our collaborations have evolved over time. The first time we collaborated was in an empty office space Susan was having a residency in. I wanted to respond to the space by making a 3 dimensional web and attach the pieces to the available surface. This was in the old post room and it had a sort of cage like structure. I showed Susan how to crochet using just the hands and she very spontaneously joined in the installation. It has been an organic process. Over the years, we have evolved our collaboration to different contexts and places: art galleries, a shopping centre, a rock gig, university labs.
'Detangling The Knots' is about dementia, where the knots are both the wool we use and the protein tangles observed by neuroscientists in the brain of people with dementia. We have both been very inspired by the idea of connections/disconnections between brain cells and connections/disconnections that can be made in perfomance and in installation. In November 2019, we performed Touch Cells at the John Hansard Gallery Southampton as part of the Human Worlds Festival. This was probably our most ambitious piece so far, in lots of respects - it was two hourS long, the space was quite large for us, we also used video and sound. We won the Creative Activity Prize for it.
The reason why I am an artist is so can I choose the people who I work with. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It 's about having the confidence to try but also to walk away if it's not right. A creative relationship is a place and space where you are both challenged and supported, where individual energies can be harnessed to make something much bigger than the individual sum of its part. Different creative relationships have different energies.
SM: As well as the performances that we do together, we also run projects together. Barbara has collaborated on two of my projects in the past couple of years, running workshops for the Women's refuge groups that I worked with on 'Statements in Semaphore' and testing playful practice with me in 'Practicing to share' where we tested using rave music and florescent face paint and wool! As part of 'Detangling the Knots' we have also been running workshops with community groups for those who live with dementia.
I think, for me, a creative relationship is one of trust, where you feel safe to share your thoughts (respectfully), and test things out with each other. In all the collaborations I am involved with respect is key, respect for each others work, process, family life (other life) and most especially as a human being. Being able to say, 'I'm not sure about that', or 'that doesn't feel right' or even 'what the hell was that?' but also having someone who can say - 'you can do it', or 'that was awesome!' My collaborators are my friends, they mean a lot to me. I guess because you invest so much into each other and the work that you do together, and that is a really precious thing.
'Touch Cells', 2019
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
BTE: Some of it is quite subtle and unconscious, some of it a bit more obvious. I definitely think a lot more about the performative elements of making my installations, of the movements I make to make different pieces. My pieces can be quite abstract and, as such, a bit distanced. Susan's performance work has shown me how putting the human body in the art work can give them a more relatable dimension. I have also started thinking about increasing the emotional engagement of the audience and I have started making electronic music both in itself and as a soundtrack for performance/installation.
SM: Working with Barbara has done a few things to my practice. Firstly she has taught me to slow down a bit, take off the pressure at times, and focus more. But practically, too, I have watched how she has run this recent project and her overall view has really influenced me. She has had a keen eye on keeping all the partners and collaborators together, on having a lot of conversations and ensuring smooth relationships. This has been key, especially considering the turbulent time we are now in, trying to maneuver into a new digital and socially distanced phase of the project.
ISOBEL AYRES AND POPPY VINCIGUERRA
Girlfriends Isobel Ayres and Poppy Vinciguerra are visual artists studying in Brighton.
LEFT: Self-Portrait by Poppy Vinciguerra, 2019; RIGHT: Still from GOBLIN GIRL Animation 2 by Isobel Ayres, 2020
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
IA: I’m Izzy, I’m an artist in my first year doing sculpture at Brighton.
PV: My Name is Poppy Vinciguerra, I’m an artist currently studying fine art painting at Brighton. I think in a painterly way, but this doesn’t mean I only make paintings. For example, my work can become three-dimensional and sculptural, but I’m always thinking about composition and colour.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
IA: We met just over a year ago, doing a foundation year in Art and Design at UCA Farnham.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
IA: I think Poppy’s really talented and also super driven. She sets herself a high standard to live up to artistically. She’s not satisfied unless she feels she’s doing the best she can.
PV: I take inspiration from the way she outwardly expresses herself. Isobel inspires me to be myself unapologetically. She has taught me to not contain myself for anyone.
Portrait of Izzy by Poppy Vinciguerra, 2020
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
IA: We do a lot of casual collaborations when we’re just hanging out I guess. One of us will start a lil drawing and then give it to the other to work on, which is fun. It’s interesting to see what direction she takes the drawing into. I think there are loads of different ways to be in a creative relationship, but I guess for us it’s really a matter of us just both being two creatives and existing in each others spaces, and the ways that our interactions with each other can consciously or unconsciously influence each other.
PV: I find it hard to collaborate with anyone, not just Izzy. I think this is because I tend to be stubborn when it comes to my art. Collaboration is something I need to get better at. That being said, I value Isobel’s artistic opinion above most people's. Most times that I complete an art work, I ask her what she thinks of it. She is always brutally honest, and it helps me to see where I’m going wrong. I trust her opinion because I know we share a similar taste in what we like in art. The only way we’ve collaborated before is to do so playfully.
Being in a relationship with someone who is equally as creative as I am and sees as much value in creating as I do is important to me.
Installation by Isobel Ayres, 2019
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
IA: Poppy always has at least one sketchbook or something she carries about with her, and I guess I’d say she's encouraged me to keep more of a sort of drawing diary kinda thing. I never did that so much before I met her.
PV: My relationship with Isobel continues to inspire my creativity . She hasn’t really changed the way that I make things, but occasionally what I make.
LEFT: Poppy Vinciguerra, 2019; RIGHT: Isobel Ayres, 2019
DJENABA DAVIS-EYO AND LISA ELDE
Visual and auditory artist Djenaba Davis-Eyo and her mother, musician and artist Lisa Elde, are based in London.
Lisa and Djenaba, shot by Ronan Mckenzie for Luncheon Magazine, 2020
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
DDE: I'm Djenaba, I'm a visual and auditory artist. Visually, I do analogue photography, filmmaking and art. On the other side, I play with sound and experimental music on double bass and violin. I am in the process of combining all these into one immersive piece, but I want to eventually extend this further and collaborate art with all the senses and elements.
LE: I am Lisa Elde, a textile designer, artist and musician. I write songs which are influenced by old-school Soul, Jazz and Indie Rock. My art revolves around spontaneous subconsciousness, and releasing energy of thoughts and feelings that seem reflect my spiritual journey. I am interested in the human condition, so I spend my time studying psychology, history and the spirituality of ancient cultures.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
DDE: My mama has self-discipline and awareness. If she wants to do something, she will just do it, without hesitation. If she is wrong, she will admit it. She's transparent in her thoughts and her experience. She speaks her mind without doubt, sometimes her abundance of experience comes out in her artwork, she may not always see it but I do; a depth, a collection of stories, visions and emotions all screaming out in her pieces. I admire that. And that's something I try to do in my own work; to tell you something without words. She's unapologetically certain in her actions and I want to get to a stage where I can say the same. I'm a procrastinator, but my mother doesn't have an ounce of that.
LE: My daughter is a great inspiration, she is always encouraging and positive. Her heart always resonates with the good rather than the bad; she perceives everything as having beauty. Djenaba’s fascination with nature and her curiosity for every living creature even the smallest bug is sooo refreshing to be around. Her artistic spontaneity and constant motivation to be creative helps me to realise that even the smallest moments can be used to express yourself.
Lisa, shot by Djenaba, 2020
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
LE: Connection is the most important element to a creative collaboration. Because we are mother and daughter, interestingly, the way we perceive the world is similar; love, harmony and resolution are at the heart of our artistic expression. We have recently collaborated on a video for one of my songs, 'Colour of Life', and Djenaba’s creative input in directing, styling and set design intuitively lent itself to the theme of the song (which is about how each of us deal with life mentally). It’s exciting and to work with such a creative and diverse artist and it's interesting to bounce ideas off each other freely and without judgment.
DDE: We collaborate on almost all our works - sometimes working together on a project, but this mostly entails us discussing our visions in great detail for hours. We call them meetings but they happen spontaneously and out of impulsive inspiration. We tend to find profound, creative enlightenment or clarity and contentment in our work at the end of our conversations.
I had the pleasure of directing her music video, which will be released later this year. It's wonderful to work with someone who you have a deep connection with creatively. I've known this woman my whole life and she has known me as hers, seen me grow and morph. Our minds and hearts are somewhat linked - we know what we are inspired by and what we love, which makes collaboration almost telepathic and easy. Disagreements are overturned quickly; we are truthful and empathetic to each other.
Left by Lisa, Right by Djenaba
'We decided to do some quiet art time together, in the same room but back to back. We couldn’t see each others work but when we had both finished we revealed these pieces. We called it aTelepathy; we some how created similar worlds with the same colours.' - Djenaba
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
LE: I am a perfectionist, and used to working from a planned idea. I am also very critical, which meant that I would not produce any art for long periods of time. Djenaba said, “Mama, just doodle sometimes. You don’t have to create a masterpiece every time, just do what you feel.” I noticed that Djenaba just allows herself to indulge, without judgment of her work, and if people like it, that’s a bonus. This has taught me to do the same, which makes it all the more fascinating and fulfilling.
DDE: She is my mama and I have always looked up to her and aspired to have a mind like hers. She's been my guide in absolutely everything, and that includes my creative growth. I started playing violin when I was 6. I was so fascinated with the instrument. My mama kept that fascination alive by telling me that my violin was alive, that it was my friend and had feelings, that I could always rely on it and it would always make me feel better. I appreciate that as I now see my instrument in a different light; a pain reliever, a confidant. My violin is like another limb, a harmonious one and I thank my mother for making me realise that at such an early age.
I also distinctly remember, when I was young, her teaching me how to draw a horse. She pushed my boundaries (and continues to) and made me try other mediums, rather than a pencil. She has influenced the way I work with my tools, making me realise beauty in rough texture, contortion, asymmetry, colour and countless other things.
My mother and I have become mirrored versions of each other, not exactly the same, but with elements of affinity. Closely linked yet still separate entities.
Work by Djenaba. Photographs of Kelsey Lu, 2019
AMBER BARDELL AND LEVI EDDIE ALUEDE
Based in London, filmmaker and visual artist Amber Bardell and director, writer and photographer Levi Aluede are in a relationship.
Levi, shot by Amber in Paris, 2019
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
LA: I'm Levi, and I'm a writer/director and photographer.
AB: I’m an artist & filmmaker. I also co-direct and project manage for !GWAK.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
LA: Amber and I met early last year.
AB: We met for a film - which we never really did make - but it was collaboration from day one. Levi wanted me to be his production designer. The day we met, I decided to wear this big hat, which I never normally wear, and he was just so in love with how strange I was, really. We worked together for a while before I fell in love with him, but he’d been swooning since the start.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
LA: What inspires me about Amber is that she's so consistent - in her quality of work, her ethic, but also how her art can live on the entire spectrum. She can literally do anything. I definitely cannot.
AB: Even-though we’re both filmmakers and we both share so many of the same values behind our work and stories we want to tell, we both bring something different to the table. The balance is usually perfect and there’s so much mutual respect. I’ve directed him as my cinematographer, and he’s directed me as his production designer. I also do fine art and he writes. I think it really works that we aren’t always on top of each other in creative environments. Levi is usually calm and controlled when I make a big noise about stuff.
Sets by Amber. LEFT: 2018; RIGHT: 2019.
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
LA: We've collaborated in film and with photography. We've worked around each other in different roles. For example, she has directed me and I have directed her. We've collaborated in co-roles too: we did a photo series called 'Golden Brown' and we both took photos together. I trust her with the camera, I always have, even before we were together, because I value her opinion and her taste. You hardly find that kind of creative trust anywhere. It's almost like being a fan of your favourite musician - you just know they're going to deliver, even if it's a different genre, style or whatever, you know you'll enjoy the work. I think that's a real creative relationship: it works both ways and you trust each other.
AB: There have been struggles, but something we can’t take for granted is the shared confidence that we’re both on the same page. We can really trust each other creatively, and as we build more knowledge of each other, it just gets better. We know what the other wants sometimes without even discussing it, which is pure magic on set. We always have the conversation too, but it's lovely when we know that we’re in agreement just by our actions. We also discuss our other projects quite often, and its really great knowing we both have these ideas for the future. I think we really value each other’s opinions because we can be really honest, and we genuinely love each other’s work a lot. It’s a constant dialogue, and actually, I think through our creative work is how we understand each other best. We have a lot of conversations that end with stuff like, ‘I’m glad you do that’.
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
LA: Individually, it's hard to say, because I would never want to work without her. I suppose there's an aspect of my work where I know I can achieve whatever part of the project she's involved in. I'm pretty confident in my own abilities, but having someone who's as strong in that way is very empowering when I'm writing and prepping films/projects that I know she'll work on. Even if she's not confident, I can be confident in her. Maybe, the word I'm looking for here is simply, optimistic.
AB: I have so much more confidence knowing I always have someone behind me, but more so having someone who really understands the process and the struggle of it all. People like my parents and other friends are supportive, and I’m grateful, but they can never understand quite what we’re going through when we’re making a film. It’s such a uniquely intense process. This support and trust really enables me to do things that might be a step outside of my comfort zone, or seem radical, and that’s how you get really fantastic results. I think, sometimes, we play it safe too often, but when we are more comfortable, we can take those risks and go for those ideas that completely smash it.
Levi (Right) on set for 'Visions of a Vivid Life'
OLIVER SHROUDER AND DYLAN DAVIES
Writers Dylan Davies, from Derby, and Oliver Shrouder, from Grantham, are in a relationship.
LEFT: Oliver; RIGHT: Dylan, 2020
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
OS: I’m Oliver Shrouder and I’m a second year undergraduate student at UEA, and I usually write poetry.
DD: I’m Dylan Davies and I’m primarily a poet, studying at the University of East Anglia.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
DD: We met in a meeting for our university newspaper in Fresher’s week. He saw me having an anxiety attack, and then we were friends.
OS: We became friends quickly after we started talking, then after five months of Mario Kart and editing we started dating.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
OS: Part of me is incredibly jealous of their near antithetical work process, in which they could sit on an idea for about two months, draft it twice in one night before a due date, and come out with some of the best poetry I’ve seen since starting at university. I tend to spend a long time working on lines, writing the draft early, then working on it here and there, but I admire someone who can lay out something impressive so fast. The talent has always been there, but the skill of memorising a year’s worth of technique, downing some caffeine, and crafting it so well is something I find amazing.
DD: He has the most insane work ethic I have ever seen in a person. If he wants to achieve something, he will achieve it, and he won’t be satisfied until he has. Because of this, I’ve seen his poetry improve so much since I first met him. I’ve always considered him one of my favourite poets, and to see him go from talented to skilled has been amazing.
Companion poems entitled 'Lupin'. LEFT: Oliver Shrouder; RIGHT: Dylan Davies. 2019
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
DD: He is my first and my meanest editor. Being on a creative writing course means that I’m going to be submitting drafts to workshops for edits, but no editor is as mean and as meticulous as him, and I’m just not satisfied with my work unless I know it’s right by him. He’s been a real asset for me, as before him, I had a real lack of attention to detail - his editing has helped me pay attention to the little things in my work, and grow as an artist alongside him.
OS: We are each other’s biggest fans, and as a consequence, we never go easy during the editing process. We’ve seen what we’re capable of, so neither holds back when we see a line lacking metre or motif, sometimes cutting them out completely. We’re both very aware of each other’s author cliches too, quick to point out if we’ve used one of our crutch words. As a result, we’re both much more meticulous editors, almost hyper-aware of the things we usually hear, and we make sure our first drafts are as perfect as possible. Ultimately, we both want to impress each other, and that drives me to want to keep creating, to ensure my next poem is their next favourite from me.
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
DD: It’s a bit sappy, but before him, a lot of my poetry was loose, unskilled nonsense about being sad, whereas now it’s skilled nonsense about being sad! I’m kidding. Since being with him, he’s inspired me to actually go outside, to experience things, and to stop being so scared of everything, and these experiences (as well as just being happier in general) have allowed me to produce better work, in my opinion.
OS: I wouldn’t even call my early poetry poetry any more; the lack of nuance and the reliance on rhyme is hard to look at, it feels like a different person wrote them. Since university, and since Dylan, I’ve branched out in theme, admiring their processes and testing out some of their techniques within my own writing, and vice versa. My first drafts now resemble a month’s worth of drafting of my work in early first year, and I attribute a lot of that growth to them. If it wasn’t for Dylan, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with Beat poetry, with Dylan Thomas, even how to correctly structure iambs and dactyls. It’s hard to imagine a creative landscape where they’re not available to help me out. Even before dating we would send our summatives to each other, and Dylan would be my first point of judgement before I would send it to be marked. Now, over a year since, they have proved me right over and over again. We are making the best work we ever have!
GEORGIA KEELING AND MILLIE NORMAN
Visual artist Georgia Keeling and her girlfriend, writer and collage artist Millie Norman, are based in Norwich.
LEFT: Millie Norman, 2019; RIGHT: Georgia Keeling, 2020
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
GK: Hi, I’m Georgia! I am a contemporary fine artist, specialising in the exploration of trauma, sexuality and feminism. Currently working with sculpture and casting, I use my process and context to inspire the mediums I use and their outcomes.
MN: I'm Millie! I am a writer, working mainly in prose fiction, performance poetry and journalistic art writing, and a collage artist.
WHEN DID YOU MEET?
GK: We have been in a relationship since February 2019.
LEFT: Millie Norman, 2019; RIGHT: Georgia Keeling, 2020
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON?
GK: I am inspired by Millie's passion and determination, and her ability to be enriched in all creative processes. I am inspired by her knowledge, intelligence and desire to explore themes so deeply. She is my muse, my soundboard and the biggest fan of my creativity.
MN: I am obsessed with the way Georgia's brain works. She is so hungry to learn, so desperate to create. It's the kind of passion that is electric to see. She is never afraid to try something completely new - in the year and a half we have been together, I have watched her teach herself screen-printing, casting, weaving, natural-dyeing. Her ideas and research are at the centre of what she does - choosing a medium, for her, is just like finding the right language in which to articulate them.
Georgia Keeling, 2019
HOW DO YOU COLLABORATE? WHAT DOES A CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP MEAN TO YOU?
GK: We explore similar themes, so we collaborate intellectually often - sharing knowledge (most of the time through intense debates) and helping one another locate a platform that best communicates our ideas. Millie supports and teaches me new mediums to explore.
MN: We bounce ideas off each other all the time. For both of us, trauma, sexuality and gender are at the centre of what we do thematically, and experimentation is at the heart of what we both do artistically. It would be amazing to see what we would come up with on a project together.
Millie Norman, 2019
HOW HAS THE OTHER PERSON CHANGED HOW YOU CREATE INDIVIDUALLY?
GK: Millie has shown me how to submerge yourself in the contemporary context of ideas, and to be willing to challenge yourself and see things in a different light. She has given me the confidence to let all the process to drive my creativity, alongside supporting me to not be so much of a perfectionist.
MN: Georgia's fearlessness in trying out new mediums is what inspired me to try my hand at visual art. She keeps me asking myself, 'why not?'
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