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The Body, Brain, and Books: Eleven Questions with artist and curator Kirsty Harris
Welcome to another edition of The Body, Brain, & Books. If you enjoy reading these quick, insightful interviews brimming with wisdom and hope, please subscribe to Beyond.
Kirsty Harris is a contemporary artist and curator. Raised in Yorkshire, UK she lives and works in London with a studio at the renowned Chisenhale Arts Place. She explores nuclear explosions as cultural, historical and iconic symbols in her artistic practice. Referencing the scale, beauty and abhorrent nature of the atom bomb, she delves into the periphery of the subject, the myths, characters and surrounding evidence. Harris works across a wide range of media from vast oil paintings of mushroom clouds, tapestries & projections to delicate paintings on glass and ceramics you could hold in your hand. She has exhibited worldwide and nationally in Galleries such as the Royal Academy of Arts and Saatchi Gallery. She can be found on IG @kirsty_harris_art
If you’d like to learn more about Kirsty’s beautiful work, check out this guest contributor post from the early days of Beyond!
What are you reading now?
I just read - All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield. It makes me wanna spit on the “art world” or rather the art market. But then why did I imagine it was any different? Page turner.
I’m listening to Werner Herzog’s audiobook - Every Man for Himself and God against All, A Memoir. I get a solid sense from Werner that despite it making him or anyone else from his past look awful - it is the complete truth. His delivery is so relentless, he hardly stops for a breath, so it works well as a walking companion. I’m always reading - Joseph Beuys In America. I love the way the few pictures are printed in it, full bleed/half-tone.
What are your most beloved books from your youth? Did you ever hide any from your parents?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was my favourite, because of the story but also the book as an object. It was so precious to me with its deep blue leather-style cover and beautiful illustrations. My little chinchilla chewed every one of my books spines, throughout the years, but he never touched that one.
Aged around 12 we all wanted to read J17 (Just Seventeen) magazine, it had loads of articles about talking to boys and sex and all that teenage stuff you need to know. Mum was not very conservative but for some reason took against this magazine, so we had to hide it from her or she would confiscate it.
What’s your favorite book to reread? Any that helped you through a dark time?
Ways of Seeing by John Berger always gets me out of an artistic black hole. Back to basics as it’s what we all carried round at art school. I also go back over short stories by Miranda July & Raymond Carver. Both so full of imagination they get your brain whizzin’. They always leave you wanting more, which is a real talent and something to strive for.
What’s an article of clothing that makes you feel most like you?
Round about this time, as it gets colder in my studio, I start to wear a boiler suit to keep warm. The practicality of it is comforting and it helps ease me into winter. I dread it every year because less daylight hours = less painting hours (yes I’ve heard of daylight bulbs).
What’s the best piece of wisdom you've encountered recently?
“The first rule of painting is that the painting must have breath.” I read this the other day in a random comment on instagram. I don’t know exactly what they mean, I think it might be a typo, but I know it’s completely true! Hard to explain how I know, it's more of a feeling. The thing about visual art is that if you could explain it all adequately with words, of course you wouldn’t bother making it.
More and more I like to let the painting, artwork or the film, performance, whatever it is - happen to me. Not in a completely passive way but instead of analysing every little detail and struggling to understand it fully, sometimes it is just a feeling. That is fine and often more satisfying.
Tell me about any special relationship you’ve had with an animal, domestic or wild?
I have had so many pets: fish, bugs, gerbils, mice, hamsters, rabbits, chinchillas, cats, dogs, each one of them gave more to me through their personality than I ever would have expected. I was saving up to buy a cow at one point. Such a wide range of characters with only one of the gerbils being inherently evil. We would keep tiny mice in our lockers at school - someone was breeding them at home as their brother had a snake or….something. Believing we were saving them from a fate worse than death, we created little enclosures and brought them out at dinner time (in our pencil cases) to play in the field. Of course they escaped ha ha.
My current little familiar is Fur Dixon who is a little black dog (Chorkie) with a mohawk. She and I are together almost all the time. She is a little bit agro towards big dogs but she loves all people and she is a very good art studio companion, she carefully avoids any artwork on the floor. When I had covid she just laid in bed with me the whole time, poor thing! She has a very sweet bedside manner but on the other hand she will rip the head off a rat given the chance. She stepped straight out of a Guillermo del Toro film, I swear.
What's one thing you are happy worked out differently than you expected?
When I met my partner Graham it had all the makings of a summer fling, exciting and a bit wild. But 11 years on we are still together and still in love. Nothing lasts forever, as we know, but I think we are both happy to forge ahead together. ONWARDS!
Early in our relationship we were on a crappy ferry in Thailand. The engine was pumping smoke into the boat and so we thought it was going to set on fire. I could see him looking around and I asked “what’s the plan?” He said I would have to climb out of the little window, he would pass out the baby (two seats down from us) and then try to follow us through. Having had very similar thoughts, I kinda knew he was the one for me. Luckily our ferry didn’t sink but, sometimes they do.
Singing in the shower or dancing in the kitchen? Or another favorite way your body expresses itself?
Summertime! Playing rounders in the park and doing a cartwheel (while waiting to bat).
What are your hopes for yourself?
A massive garden, lots of space, high ceilings, love, amazing light and slower life. I want spare time to spend with people who are creative and positive. We want the best for each other, no bitching. My artwork in museums, dinner parties, rescue dogs and pergolas. Conversations that stay with you for years. Good news on the tv, world peace. A happy family. Great views. Not to be tired. Maybe a monkey.
What’s a kindness that changed your life?
Last year I broke a bone in my foot and a friend of mine collected various vitamins and weird remedies…all sorts that she wanted me to take to make my bones stronger and give me more energy. This big paper bag of sincere well wishes was quite moving. Left to my own devices, I have not been a healthy eater. Being kinda skinny it didn’t present itself as a priority, but these bad habits really catch up with you. I decided to commit to eating more healthily. As she had made so much effort with this care package the least I could do was swap out crisps for salads.
What’s a guiding force in your life?
Creativity.
If you enjoyed Kirsty’s questionnaire, you may also enjoy this one with Christine Barker:
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Kirsty's point about visual art not needing words to be fully understood is spot on. Sometimes, a piece of art just hits you, and you can't quite explain why. It's a reminder that art speaks to us on a deeper level, bypassing the need for language or logic.
Love her unfiltered voice, a crisp fall breeze! 🍁