Lara: Amalgamations of Intrusive Memories and Cool Media
This interview between Writer, Kate Hammer, and Artist, Lara, took place over email in February 2022.
Lara is a 22-year-old art student that likes to explore identity in relation to herself and others in their practice. Growing up in rural Portugal, her earlier practice was heavily influenced by majolica pottery and ‘azulejos’. This, paired with her love for graphic novels and manga has resulted in narrative-driven drawing practice. They view their practice as ‘escapism from the mundane every day’.
girl crush
☆*:.｡. the interview .｡.:*☆
KH: We can start small: How are you today?
L: Not too bad to be honest. Last week I had Covid so that wasn't fun but, it's nice to be re-released back into the public. So I've had a fun lil’ outing where I just window shopped – it just feels really great to be out of my room.
KH: When did you first fall in love with graphic novels? Is there a specific artist/book?
L: It's a funny story, when I was a pre-teen I was obsessed with My Chemical Romance and I remember vividly watching a documentary they had shot when they were on tour. I just remember seeing Gerard Way sitting in some nook in the back of their tour bus, drawing and designing his characters for his graphic novel The Umbrella Academy. For some reason that just blew my little mind, I just sat there going like "Wait this is a thing!? You can do this??" After that I fell down the rabbit hole of comics and graphic novels and just grabbed anything I could get my hands on, But, one artist that really influenced my style was Natasha Allegri, especially her work on Bee and Puppycat.
KH: For the exhibition, you said you were most inspired by the Personal Symbolism and Queer Art Workshop, what about it motivated you to submit?
L: Firstly, I really enjoyed the workshop: William Shoal's presentation on using queer symbolism that would be recognized by the queer community, whilst remaining undetected by the majority really spoke to me. As a queer artist I often find it hard to express my queerness or queerness in general through my art, as it's kind of scary. I really admire people who present these themes throughout their work and do so in such a fearless manner, but sadly that isn't the reality for most, me included. It just felt really reassuring hearing someone from our community saying "hey, you and your art are still valid even if you're not in a position to be loud about it."
KH: How do you represent queerness in your work?
L: The majority of my work is self reflective, so the way I present queerness is quite specific to my own experience. I don't think it's a conscious decision when I create a piece, it kind of just comes out and presents itself through composition and subject matter. In this case I wanted to use a style that was unapologetically girly and camp whilst using materials that reflected the playful nature of the piece.
KH: I loved the use of school-inspired drawings that sort of tap into our subconscious. It makes sense that in this format, thoughts of queerness would come out to play – even if women face a lot of dismissal about it. Why do you think that thinking carries on in our culture, and how does what you create represent that?
L: Honestly, I feel like it probably comes back to some form of internalised misogyny and or compulsory heteronormativity. When you are that young in school you're literally surrounded by an institution that upholds that context. That's why I feel like it’s only when we gain some distance we begin see the bigger picture and start to understand our queerness within our own context, on our own terms.
girl gaze
KH: I’m always interested in how to choose which stories to tell. How do you decide which personal experiences to reflect in your practice? Is it about a feeling, something seen, or anything at all that sparks creativity?
L: I don't really have a method when it comes to creating a composition, I sometimes just start a piece and I'm like oh...this is a reflection of this experience I've had. The less I think during creating a piece the better it turns out if I'm being honest. However, I am really inspired by the music I listen to, fashion and just pop culture in general, I mean who isn't? It's kind of an amalgamation of anxious intrusive memories and whatever cool piece of media I've recently seen.
KH: Because your art is inspired/reflective of music, what’s your favourite song you’re listening to now?
L: Oh this is so embarrassing, I do not have a good music taste. I tend to listen to a lot of noise music and K-pop. At the moment I've been really enjoying Ping Pong by Hyuna and Dawn, that whole album's concept and visual style have been a massive inspiration for some of my recent work.
KH: You describe your practice as "Escapism of the mundane everyday” – what do you want audiences who see your work to walk away with? Also, if you feel like it’s interesting: what’s your opinion on art being entertaining, or needing to mean something more?
L: Oh dear, that sounds really pretentious, I am so embarrassed (cries). What I meant with escapism is that each of my pieces end up representing some kind of fantasy. Real life is, to put simply, boring and hard, so I use my practice as a way to reshape and redesign said boring realities. Not in a stoic way, more of a, I treat my life like the Sims and I've downloaded some fun custom content and let's hope it doesn't crash my computer. So if I can provide a little bit of fun for my audience through my pieces, that would be an added bonus.
I dislike the idea that the artwork should have to have a deeper meaning. I think it is so reductive when you have this expectation that each piece you create or even your practice has to have some message or deeper meaning that's been carefully thought out. Personally, I feel like it takes you, as the artist, out of the moment and forces you to fabricate some meaning or narrative. In the end I think the work should speak for itself and if it is just a drawing of a pretty girl done in glittery gel pen, then so be it. I just want people to have a good time when viewing my art, I'm not here to question or confront anyone – I'm too tired for that. I'm just here to have fun and make some fun girly doodles.
KH: What do you think the new wave of queer femininity looks like? I hope it looks a lot like what you create, I’m ready for that.
L: I love this wave of the reclamation of hyper femininity for the girls and gays. I feel like most people can relate that when growing up you're taught to reject hyper femininity and prove to everyone that you're not like other girls...dark times. But now it's almost like we've all collectively woken up from that comp-het nightmare and just have gone "wait no screw that, I want everything I own to be pink and sparkly." However, what I think is just so amazing about being a queer, femme-presenting person these days is that there are so many creative and interesting subcultures you can identify with, that all fall under the queer umbrella. I don't think this new wave of queer femininity will have a cohesive look, and that is the most exciting part about it!
