How have you spent your time during quarantine/lockdown?

At first, I was going really hard in the studio. I had a lot of exhibitions and shoots coming up, so I was continuing that―being in the studio all day everyday. Running a lot, deep hours-long meditations, playing guitar, drawing and cooking recipes that would take as long as possible. Then things really started to shift for me and I had to slow down. I really allowed myself to feel the devastation of it all. I got back to writing, which has been so important to me―delving back in to that, especially since I hadn’t really had the time earlier in the year. I spent a good amount of time in London working on some projects there, being in nature, recording a podcast, and reading―always reading.

What books were you reading at that time?

A friend lent me I’m very into you by Kathy Acker and McKenzie Wark in the very beginning, which I loved so much. I’m really into correspondences (A Dialogue on Love by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick is another favorite) and the way Acker and Wark’s relationship seeps in and out of personal and theoretical discussions is so beautiful. I also was reading a good amount of poetry, A Sand Book by Ariana Reines and Sympathetic Little Monster by Cameron Awkward Rich, something about prose was easier to digest in that moment. I couldn’t put down A Little Life―I was staying up until like 3am every night to finish it; it truly sucks you in. I had been reading Derek Jarman’s journals Modern Nature on and off for quite some time (I love his work and have read several journal or diary type books this year) and finally finished them before visiting his old country house when I was in London, which felt extremely special, a kind of synchronicity which seems to be all the more rare these days.

Please tell us candidly what your thoughts were when PAM contacted you to be a part of Positive Messages.

I was really excited to tap into the shared PAM community and a dialogue amongst artists, and it also reminded me a lot of the necessary sharing we do at the studio. We have a text thread called officepool where we share playlists, films, memes, etc.―all the stuff that’s been getting us through this hellscape. Positive Messages feels in a similar vein. I also admittedly really wanted to share my playlist―I made it during my intense meditation period so I really felt in tune, really tapped in. And by that I mean I unconsciously somehow made a playlist with 69 songs that runs 4 hours and 20 minutes.