‘Traces of everything around me’: Telling the writer’s story
Marina Deller challenges the cliché of the lonely writer in a humble series of photopoetry at The Mill.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “In order to write about life, first you must live it”. Where else would storytellers seek inspiration if not from those around them?
Though writers are often depicted sitting by a rainy window, rubbing midnight eyes at a typewriter, alone, Dr Marina Deller chose to subvert this stereotype, finding companionship was integral to their work during a writing residency at The Mill.
“I did the bulk of my PhD during COVID, so I spent a lot of time sitting behind a desk or engaging with people online and I craved that sense of artistic community,” says Deller.
“As I went through the residency, which is a year long, I was surrounded by creative people, going to morning tea and talking over our coffees, or going to shows and exhibition openings. I just felt it having such a positive impact on my creativity, my process and my motivation.”
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Deller’s residency culminated in an expression of those very feelings in The Mill foyer exhibition, The Myth of the Lonely Artist. The digital presentation features a number of photopoetry slides that evidence a writer’s solitude is not their defining feature.
Slide 5 depicts birds perched on power wires, the latter acting as lines in a journal for Deller’s handwritten poetry to sit upon and the former as playful punctuation. The rhythm created by the combination of these elements reflects the harmonious inspiration of the natural world. The artist taps into the idea that there is so much life around us, we just have to tune in.
"The birds recognise me now because I walk the same route, and I’ll be writing notes in my phone or recording myself saying things, and they’ll be there and they’ll be almost waiting for me."
“It’s a nod to the non-human element of community and it’s this idea that even if you’re out for a walk and you’re stuck in your own head, there are things that are going to pull you out of that,” Deller explains. “The birds recognise me now because I walk the same route, and I’ll be writing notes in my phone or recording myself saying things, and they’ll be there and they’ll be almost waiting for me. They become a part of that ritual.”
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While the photography is grayscale, the richness of tone in Slide 4 means the taste and scent of the teacups pictured remains palpable. The image was shot in The Mill’s kitchen, with the mugs as stand-ins for their owners.
"Being someone who writes or creates does pervade every part of your life."
“It’s a spot where you don’t know who you’re going to run into. It’s almost like a harbour where ships are coming and going,” Deller says. “Sometimes you’re going to meet someone and sit and chat for half an hour, and other times everyone’s got headphones in and they’re in their own little zen space but you’re sharing it together.”
In Slide 1 Deller suggests, even when you are ‘alone’, writing itself can be a companion. The artist is shown surrounded by stacks of books and, without them in shot, they would likely look quite isolated, but as the text reads, “everything I make holds traces of everything around me”. Whether the work is physically with them or not, its essence is still present.
“Being someone who writes or creates does pervade every part of your life,” Deller says. “It’s with you on your morning walks, it’s with you when you’re sharing a coffee with someone, it’s with you when you’re in bed or at the library and all those little in-between moments. And I think that’s always going to be the case for me.”
With both parents as writers, the tangible community influence has also been a part of Deller’s writing from the very start.
“I was dragged along to poetry readings and I would sit under the tables and listen to people speak into staticky microphones,” they say. “I would steal snacks and play games but I was always kind of listening and I could tell that words and writing had a power to them – that there was something that made people come together and stop and listen and take time to engage.”
The Myth of The Lonely Artist is showing at The Mill until June 20.
Sarah Herrmann is the latest recipient of the Helpmann Academy InReview Mentorship. She is working with experienced visual arts writer Jane Llewellyn to write a series of articles for publication in InReview.