Recently, I was asked to run a creative writing workshop. I have the following as my bio and my idea of what the session would look like:
In his photography, holoz0r draws inspiration from the visual style and mythological symbolism of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. His artistic practice explores the fragility and transience of human life. Informed by his Master’s Degree in Visual Art and Design, his thesis examined artistic representations of death, decay, and impermanence.
These themes flow into his writing. He weaves his love of speculative fiction and philosophy together, striving for his work to capture the wonder of Arthur C Clarke, the vivid, existential doubts sowed by Philip K Dick, and the deeply insightful and introspective work of Ted Chiang.
In this creative writing workshop, we will examine Pre-Raphaelite paintings where painting and poetry were deeply linked. Then, we'll craft written responses focusing on the subtle, intentional details that are all present for a reason.
We will then advance to discussing the photograph as memento mori, covered by French philosopher Roland Barthes, before pausing to make a poem that is a portrait.
Finally, we will conclude on intentionality in creativity, where even in a flow state, every word can be curated to extract more meaning.
I was pretty happy with what I wrote ... but it ended up being too long. What eventually got published to advertise the event, instead was the following (not written by me:)
Local author, holoz0r is presenting an ekphrastic session with a twist! Did you know that pre-Raphelite painting had a strong link with writing about artworks. Steven will present content on what inspires you, an urgency to create, and inspiration rather than writer's bloc as to stirring with one's muse...
holoz0r will also be the guest author for the afternoon Poets @ the Pub. Turn up for the morning, chill in the afternoon in listening to others or be a part of the open mike. See if you can win a bottle of wine as well...
[city] - the Colonial Athens...
I packed my suitcase full of my photographs (which were recently exhibited) - and packed it even more full with my collection of books on the Pre-Raphaelite painters, and the work of Roland Barthes, and in the interim, I wrote oh so many notes. I didn't read from them verbatim, but instead, I summarised them into dot points and a structure.
I know for a fact that none of you were at the workshop, but I know that at least two of you would have loved to attend. So, ultimately, here is what my rambling would have looked like if you were in the room at the time I was doing it:
Intro (15 minutes?)
Hello, I'm holoz0r. I am no expert on pronouncing words, or indeed writing them, but I'd like to welcome you to this writing workshop. I am first and foremost a photographer in my creative work, but recently, I have sulked back into the shadows to my youthful dream of being a writer.
A dream I once fulfilled. I've written professionally for video game publications, and for the last ten years, rambled my way through a personal blog full of reflections and introspection, commenting on the state of various things, and continuing to review various media. I'm almost up to a million words.
I took a redundancy from my former employer in April this year, and I've used the time to really dig deep into my creative roots. I've had my solo photographic exhibition, Myth just conclude at Cafe Nova. Nothing sold, but that doesn't matter. I made that work over the course of six years, because within me, there is an undefined, burning force that compels me to create. If I don't - I get depressed. Quite the opposite of the typical tormented individual who produces their best work while depressed.
Speaking of depression - high school!
I wrote a novel in high school called 13 Bullets. I never had the guts to send it to a publisher, and I never typed the thing out. I wrote the bulk of it while ignoring my Mandarin lessons. I chose to focus on English. Interestingly, that was the only time I was ever given a detention in school - for not paying attention in Other Language Studies, owing to the fact that it was not as interesting as the worlds I was creating.
The following year, I wrote a story that became known as "Melanie's Fall", and also, never sent that to publishers. The complete manuscript is floating around on the Internet. I then wrote a story called "Sojourn" as I was starting my blog, ran it to something like 30,000 words, then lost interest. After I read Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke, I realised I wrote almost the same story, only setting it in a cave instead of on a cigar shaped, mysterious space ship.
I've never edited it. More seriously, I am currently writing a bunch of short stories that I hope to collate into a collection of science fiction. Sadly, I will soon have to contend with a full time job which will rob me of my writing time, I suspect. I write everyday.
I have done so many things creatively in my lengthy (for those around me) 38 years, but I have just too many interests. I studied a Master of Visual Art and Design at the University of South Australia and wrote a thesis called "Visions of Death", which studied how Death is represented in various forms of visual Art.
My favourite paintings are those of the Pre-Raphaelite school of artists. They were a group of people who were incredibly dissatisfied with the decline of the academy in London around the 1850s, and produced work through to the early 1910s. They idealised the great painters Raphael and Michelangelo. Their subject matter was often biblical, but was equally inspired by mythology.
It is their style and work that I take into my photographic practice.
Pre-Raphaelites (10 minutes)
But as the invitation for this event led you to believe, the pre-Raphaelites used an enormous amount of text to inform and enhance their work. Indeed, many of them were also Poets. I've brought a few books along on the pre-Raphaelites, we'll use them for some exercises shortly.
Before that, I just want to say, that when this workshop was proposed to me, I had only heard the word ekphrastic used to connect visual art and written prose or poetry once before, yet, it is something that I have done for my whole life. One of my projects at university was to take song lyrics and transpose them into a series of images. You'll find that book, scattered among the others that I've brought here today.
Ekphractic writing is the inverse. We take an image, and we compose something in response to it.
We'll find some images in the books I've brought, or indeed, some of my own photographs that I have brought along, and we can do some writing on them. When looking at this art, I encourage you to look at the small details, and to note the fact that in this human generated work, every detail and every element is there due to an intentional choice.
Write a poem in response to a photograph or a pre-raphaelite painting - (15 min for writing, 10 min for reading)
Have people share their work.
Writing and sharing photography - Barthes 25 mins
Moving on now to the period of time while the Pre-Raphaelites were producing work. At the same time, photography was starting to come about - and Paul Delaroche, famously proclaimed, in lieu of his own talent (and the fact his work is still celebrated today) "From this day forth, painting is dead." If only I could tell him it isn't. Look at the glory of his work, in The Young Martyr, The Death of Lady Jane Grey, and other pieces.
But while Delaroche painted a lot of things about death - be it of the person, or of the empire - it took another French man to come to the notion that the photograph represents the death of the moment, and the death of what it represents at a given time. While it captures the moment, the photograph is a thing that is entirely embodying of death.
Roland Barthes text is stuck in time, fixed in time, and the photogrpah itself history we can't access. The people in all photographs are strangers from a time where we didn't exist. They are also a recognition of a time before we were.
Viewing a photograph is a private thing - not a shared experience. Think of a photograph of someone, a delightful portrait, or a happy snapshot, or maybe the last photograph of a loved one or a pet.
How does that photograph have value, and what is its meaning? What are the small details in it that matter?
Let's write a poem that is a portrait of a person. Think of the elements in portraiture as you do - not only the person's details, but their environment that connects them to the moment they are captured.
An urgency to create (15 minutes)
Time is our most limited resource. I hope, that like me, you have dozens of worlds and ideas bubbling at the surface, wanting to be savoured and tasted. What drives me is my inevitable death. Knowing it will happen means that I have limited time to extract the stories that are in my brain, that swirl in my thoughts, and that stick with me through every waking moment.
When I was learning to code in Python, one of the first exercises was to work out how many weeks old I was. Then the next step forced me to confront my own mortality. What's my life expectancy. How many years do I have left? How many weekends do I have left? While this was intended as a tool to obviously teach the urgency of learning, for me, it was a profound moment that told me that I only had a certain amount of unpromised time left to me, and to make the most of it at all times.
I lie awake at night bursting with stories, then when I seldom get to a light sleep, I dream of more stories and my backlog grows ever longer.
Profound things happen all around us every moment, that go so unnoticed. The mundane is remarkable, because it lets the more complex things emerge. It is in those things that I find myself transfixed, find beauty, and explore lots of little details.
Don't waste your time on the things that don't matter to you. Disconnect from them and move own. Focus on your own creative diet. It is okay to be selfish for your creativity.
My creative diet consists of paintings, fiction, novels, the very ground I walk upon, and the observations I make of those around me. What inspires you? Think about this each time you create work, and don't let anything stand in the way of you and your self expression.
