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tea-break with: CAITLIN ELLIS

Caitlin Ellis is an emerging writer and poet from Boorloo, Australia. Her work examines the mundane and the morbid, candidly dissecting concepts of identity, growth, trauma, and transformation through gothic lyricism and visceral imagery. Ellis’ poems have been featured in both local and international poetry anthologies, including those by Sunday Mornings at the River, WA Poets Inc., and Beyond the Veil Press. Worm Food and Bone Sand (2022) is her debut poetry collection and is a tender and unflinching exploration of the awkward beauty that lies within the loss of innocence and the evolution of self.


You can see Caitlin perform some of her work at our poetry night on this Friday the 19th January.



tell us a bit about yourself and what you do:

Hello! My name is Caitlin, I’m a writer, reader, and hopeless ruminator, and I currently call Perth/Boorloo home. I released my debut poetry collection, Worm Food and Bone Sand, in 2022, and regularly write for my Substack newsletter, Ruminations. My work tends to examine the mundane and the morbid, candidly dissecting concepts of identity, growth, trauma, and transformation with a passion for highlighting that which is curious and beautiful.

When not scrawling down the tail ends of half-formed thoughts, you’ll find me lost in a book or film, whistling to my pet birds, out in the garden watching things grow, or tending to the many alarms that haunt my shifts as a Registered Nurse.

how did you get into writing and what do you like about it?

Writing wasn’t something I ever got into; writing has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember and I can’t see it any other way. There’s something so freeing and forgiving about a blank page. It asks nothing of you, other than that you fill it up.

Writing has been many things for me over the years, including an outlet, a refuge, a tool for experimentation and a gentle hand to hold as I grow. I’ve learnt most of what I know about myself through the act of writing, so the process has become somewhat sacred to me. The fluidity of the creative process and the sheer abundance in opportunity writing creates continues to draw me back to the medium time and time again.

what are your favourite things to write about and how would you describe your style?

I like to think of my writing as modern with a gothic (and often existential) twist. I’m still growing into my style, but I always return to quite visceral imagery with a touch of body horror that I think stems from my work as a Nurse in the ICU. I’m leaning into quite an experimental stage and find myself writing more often about the female experience, our relationship with nature and time, and the importance of connection in an era of distraction and disconnect.


is there any advice you would give to emerging writers just starting out?

Begin! Please! Writing can feel like an attempt to communicate with the void, but I assure you there are people out there waiting for your work to enter their lives. Every doubt, every moment lost to the imposter, to fear, is the opportunity for your work to reach who it needs lost.

what inspires you?

Greenery in all its leafy, mossy, brilliant forms. Mundane moments spent quietly in solitude. Mundane moments made magical with company. The bravery and perseverance of humans. Our ability to empathise with inanimate objects. Kindness. The countless pieces of art and
literature and music that have come before me. Growth.

“That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” – Walt Whitman

are you working on anything at the moment?

Yes! Ruminations is undergoing a small but significant change in the coming hours?days?weeks? which I am beyond excited about.

I may or may not also be toying with larger ideas.

Keep your ears pricked.


what was the process of self-publishing your poetry anthology like?

Life changing. Difficult. Incredible.

Worm Food and Bone Sand is very much a time capsule of my teenage years and an ode to all the struggles I faced during that time period. Combing through my old work and transforming the pain, the confusion, the angst, and the rebelliousness into a tangible collection was challenging, but incredibly rewarding. Going on to then release the finished book into the world felt so very vulnerable and I’ll never forget how terrifying it was to officially Let Go. In the end, it was by far the best decision I’ve ever made.

I also recently released a long reflection of my self-publishing journey on Ruminations which you can find here!

do you have any long-term dreams for your writing career?

Absolutely – too many to count. I’ve always dreamed of going back to university to study creative writing and truly deep dive into the craft – and I can finally say that dream is coming true! This February I begin a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and I’m simply over the
moon.

what do you like to do in your free time?

Bake sweet things. Create aesthetically pleasing Pinterest boards to no end. Watch youtube or movies. Show up as often as I can to my local yoga studio. Connect with friends and family. Go on adventures with my partner. Lose myself in nature when I remember to stop doomscrolling. (Doom scroll). Read. Write write write.


Interview by: Cailin Dumma

tea-break with: LILY ANAIS

 Lily Anais is a tattoo apprentice, visual artist and small business owner based in Perth. I sat down with her over matcha in a plant-filled corner of Stackwood's warehouse cafe to chat about how her tattoo apprenticeship is going and how she started out on her creative path. You can find more of Lily's work on her Instagram @lilyanais.tattoo and @apriciti.design and grab one of her prints at our upcoming Art Market on Sunday the 10th December. 


Lily Anais. Photo credit: Deni Robinson

tell us a bit about yourself and what you do:

Hi! My name is Lily and I'm 25 years old. At the moment I'm a tattoo apprentice at Main Street Tattoo but before that, I did art as a hobby and as a side hustle. I co-own my small business, Apriciti Design, with my twin sister, Deni. We have both been making art since we were around 10-12 years old, which is also when we started our first small business. At Apriciti, Deni and I design and sell our artwork in the form of prints, stickers, tote bags, key rings, bookmarks, pins, and notebooks! We have an online store but we mostly work to sell our artwork at local markets around Perth.


how did you get into art and what do you like about it?

I've always just loved drawing. I started off with realism and portraiture after I noticed I had a knack for it. It was always really satisfying to be able to replicate a photo, and it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I started out using graphite pencils on paper, and I still do draw these for a lot of the art commissions I get, but for the purposes of becoming a tattoo artist, I began branching out into digital art where I was also able to easily explore more styles and techniques relevant to tattooing. I love that digital art has given me the opportunity to explore more styles and allowed me to really push my creative boundaries and develop more creative skills.

what are your favorite things to draw and how would you describe your art style?

My favourite things to draw include lots of nature, witchy, and feminine type subjects. Particularly frogs, women, bugs and plants, etc. My art style is really about as consistent as my music taste, it's all over the place. Ideally, I would love to create my own unique style but I do love to draw just about everything in any style.

Art by Lily Anais

what does a typical day as a tattoo apprentice look like for you?

I'm still at the beginning of my apprenticeship so I do a lot of drawing haha. As an apprentice, I will get to the studio around 8:30-9am and begin the opening duties. So this includes vacuuming, mopping, lots of cleaning, paper towel prep, checking and unpacking stock, doing coffee runs, setting up and packing down other artists' stations etc. When I'm not helping out around the studio, I'm allowed to find somewhere to set up and work on creating weekly flash sheets. At the end of the day, I will do the closing activities which involve a lot of the same cleaning activities, laundry, dishes, taking out bins etc. I finish at 6pm, I head home, I work on some of my flash sheets or commissions and then do this all again the next day. It's been a little tiring but I'm learning so much and it's really been so fun and so rewarding.


is there any advice you would give to emerging artists just starting out?

I know it can be controversial, but if you're just starting out don't be afraid to copy people's work, but ONLY IF you ensure that (if you decide to post it anywhere) you appropriately credit the artist and obviously don't try to profit off of it. But art is one of those practices where it's hard to develop any skills unless you learn and copy from the best. Art is all about inspiration and learning from one another. When you realise what it is that you love, you can practice it over and over again, making small changes until you have mastered it well enough to add your own unique flare to it. Soon enough you will have developed your own unique style. Don't be afraid to try something new, or make mistakes, because it's the only way to learn how to get better and to learn what you love.


Art by Lily Anais


what drew you to tattooing?

So I actually started posting silly little tiktoks of my silly little drawings, just for fun, in 2021. To my surprise, a couple of them went viral and I gained a small following of people who really wanted my art as stickers and/or tattoos. People around the world even ended up paying for tattoo tokens so they could take my art to their local tattoo artists to get tattooed. I ended up starting Apriciti Design with Deni, and yet again, at markets people would ask if I was a tattoo artist or if they could get my work tattooed. At this point I was getting towards the end of my psychology degree. Originally, I was studying psychology to become an art therapist, but I was beginning to realise I didn't have quite the same passion and drive for psychology as all my other peers but I still wanted to make a difference in people's lives in the form of mental health. After much encouragement from friends and strangers on the internet, I decided to just finish my degree (I had one year left and had already been studying for 6 years at this point) and then I would pursue tattooing instead. In my mind, tattooing is another form of art therapy. One that I felt would be better for my mental health. But also, as an artist, people come to you wanting a piece of art that brings them joy, happiness, nostalgia or is a memorial piece for loved ones. All of which can be so healing, validating and can contribute to a greater sense of identity and self love. So to me, I will still be fulfilling that part of me that dreamed of being an art therapist. It also just felt like the right choice; like I was honouring myself and choosing joy and authenticity over just doing what I believed society expected of me.

what inspires you?

Other artists, people in all the different communities I'm apart of, my friends, music, nature. So many things, big and small.

Art by Lily Anais


what do you like to do in your free time?

I obviously love to draw, but when I'm not drawing I will also read, go on walks or hikes, go on picnics, and try new cafes to get a coffee and a sweet treat.


are you working on anything at the moment?

I work on new flash sheets every week which is quite time-consuming. I'm also working on some Christmas art commissions, as well as working on some artwork and products for Apriciti's upcoming markets that we will be attending.


do you have any long term dreams for your creative career?

In the near future I would love to develop my own unique and consistent style. Something that's recognisable and really feels like 'me'. And once I'm well established in my career, I would love to travel with my tattooing, and tattoo people around the world. Maybe even further down the track I could start up my own studio that promotes inclusivity for all types of people.


Apriciti Design tote bags


Interview by: Cailin Dumma

Aimee-Rose Keppler x Alex Trovato

 Content warning: mention of paedophilia


Artwork by Alex Trovato



We've received quite a few poetry submissions lately and we thought it would be fun to make things a bit more collaborative, so we put out a call-out for a local visual artist to create some work in response to the poems. It was very interesting to see how the artists have interpreted the poems and taken inspiration from different elements and brought them into their own work. The above artwork was created by Alex Trovato in response to the following poems by Aimee-Rose Keppler. We will definitely be doing more of these collaborations in the future, so if you're a visual artist look out for any call-outs posted on our social media!

Alex Trovato is a visual artist who works with mixed mediums to capture storytelling through multi-faceted modes of communicating identity, understanding and belonging, with a language that does not exist with words. Her work builds on an energetic spiritual enquiry, executed by her three-step process of life experience, self-reflection and self-expression. This language can be witnessed via a problem-solving exploration of erratic mark-making developing into form. Find more of Alex's work on her Instagram @alextrovart

When asked about this collaboration, Alex said: 
I pulled out a lot of themes of fantasy, chemistry, intimacy and self-love from these poems- which are beautifully written. How I create my art is usually on a whim, and then later the meaning speaks to me. For this composition, the colourful waves across the two faces represent the intimacy one experiences with another person. Usually at first, the feelings are heightened and there's a lot of excitement. It runs across the two faces to hide and deflect the meaning attached to who these two people are. It's a play on that fluidity of meaning, a mystery as you're not supposed to know who they are, they're just there.


Aimee-Rose Keppler is a 19-year-old poet and opera singer. She has always had a special love for poetry and started writing when she was ten years old. Growing up, she went through two paedophile cases  and found that poetry and music were the only ways she could express her emotions fully. Her poetry is ultimately a window into her soul. Aimee-Rose's aim for writing poetry is to raise awareness for mental health and to raise her voice so that others may feel comfortable to do so as well. The subject matter is mainly about trauma, healing, love, nature and music. 















 


Tabarak Al Nour

 




Poetry by: Tabarak Al Nour

Illustrations by: Jesse @rosarrie





@fizzydrinkdanart

 Dan is a 24-year-old trans masculine artist from Boorloo. Their preferred artistic mediums are digital art and acrylic paint on canvas. Find more of Dan's art on Instagram @fizzydrinkdanart

CW: partial nudity, themes of depression, derealisation and possible body horror


Clock Girl

Clown Beach

Eye See You

Keep Me Company

Stars Are Yours

Garden

Throned Goddess

Wolfman


Remy Gordon

 

Remy Gordon is a landscape artist based in Boorloo. She is currently in her final year studying Fine Arts at Curtin University. She loves to paint the coast using acrylic on canvas as the beach is one of her favourite places and painting these pieces brings her a lot of joy. 


Find more of Remy's work on Instagram @remyyart


Jeannie's Lookout, Wadjemup


The Basin, Wadjemup


Canal Rocks, Yallingup


Salmon Holes, Albany



Unfolding: a group exhibition of emerging artists



During May this year we had our first exhibition, Unfolding, a celebration of emerging West Australian artists. Unfolding ran for three weeks at Gallery 152 in York, Western Australia and featured eighteen young artists working with an array of mediums from ceramics to digital art. Featured artists included Millie Murfit, Gwen Dayoc, Leia Duffy, Keziah Goodman, Grace Yong, Shannon Fae, Emma Lucas, Sam Jane, Tamara Barron, Rachel Warren, Crystal Palmer, Bo Flanigan, Abbi Ward, Natalie Blom, Lauren Rodriguez, Karina Edwards, Arya Beltaine and Caitlin Clough. 

Thank you to beautiful poets Em Burton and Fiona Wilkes for reading at our opening event and congratulations to Grace Yong who was awarded the People's Choice Award for her piece, Handle With Care.

hehe boobies by Gwen Dayoc



various works by Rachel Warren


various works by Grace Yong


various works by Millie Murfit


Alice by Keziah Goodman, and various works by Arya Beltaine





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