- you have been writing poems and abstract stories for as long as I've know you, where did this interest come from? As far back as I can remember I've had a vivid imagination and I've always enjoyed writing and in particular storytelling. However this had never been something I considered a career choice. I knew I wanted to be creative but was never sure as to which field I was suppose to be creative in. Then I began writing as a means to control and deal with things I felt had been controlling me. It felt like I'd finally got out of bed and opened the curtains. - how do you begin to construct a piece of writing and is a piece usually completed in one sitting? It happens in two stages that play like a continuous loop. First I just try and absorb mentally the things I find interesting. It could be something life altering or it could be the colour of somebody's trousers. Sometimes I'll make notes but mostly I just leave it sitting up there. Then I spend time writing it all down until I'm confronted by a lump of words which are then sculptured into something beautiful and interesting, hopefully. Then the cycle starts again. I never finish anything in one sitting, I'm still re-writing poems I thought I'd finished over a year ago. - how do you use your own influences from art and literary history to inspire your own practice? I'm not sure is the short answer. I think a lot of creative people like to imagine that their work is a deft homage to the work of 'whoever' with slight nod towards 'whatever'. But sometimes it's as simple as seeing something you like and thinking I could do that. I think plagiarism's underrated, even being original's getting boring these days. - you have worked in a wide range of mediums, film, collage, stop-motion animation and directing but there always seems to be a narrative that is specifically about communication on a language level, do you think this is fair and could you talk about how you try and keep each new project in line with your own visions? It's interesting you say that because at university I was always told I needed to tie my work together more coherently and that it lacked a common theme. So I guess it depends on who is looking at it. Personally I think it's counter productive to try and stick to a certain style or narrative. That's not to say you shouldn't have one, it should just happen naturally when you find a medium or genre you're comfortable with. Incidentally that's the point you should stop whatever it is you're doing and do it differently. - a lot of your work has been collaborative, do you find that you work better alongside another creative energy? I actually think I work better alone. Working with other people means you have to be prepared to sacrifice your own artistic vision in order to accommodate somebody else's. Which I think is the hardest thing an artist can do. Sometimes however you have to look at what you're trying to achieve objectively and admit that in order to achieve that goal to it's highest possible standard you might need to enlist the help of others who are more
knowledgeable or capable of doing what you're aiming to do. I've learnt a lot from working with others and the results have often surpassed my expectations so in the long run I'd say it's worth it. - i'm interested in recurring themes and motifs in an artists work. what do you think your motif is, if any? I still think my creative practice, especially regarding my writing, is in it's infancy so I'm not sure if I've had time to develop any recurring themes, not consciously anyway. Let me know if you find any. how important is personal experience to your work? can you make a piece from scratch or does it have to follow on from something that has happened? It's the most important thing. You have to live in order to have something to write about. Around a year ago I found myself placing myself in more and more compromising situations just so I could write about them. I whole heatedly recommend this. - what are you going to do next? I'm going to re-edit and expand the first quarter of the novel I've been writing for the past year and then I'm going to stop complaining about writers block.