I think good arts writing should transcend and forget itself so as not to take itself so seriously.
– Suzanne Claridge
Sticky Teeth’s micro-interviews have less to chew off. Ft. words from creative professionals at the intersection of the arts and writing.
In this edition, writer Suzanne Claridge talks about ephemeral approaches to working with language and their belief that good arts writing should not lose sight of its purpose: the reader and experiencing art.
xx Tahney
Suzanne Claridge is a writer, time-traveller & artist of Fiji-Indian and Anglo descent.
Tahney: From your POV, what’s a major arts writing problem, and what should we do about it?
Your favourite arts person working with language?
It’s hard to pick a favourite. I have been influenced and inspired by many writers and arts practitioners. An artist working with language that I really admire is Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money. An example of her practice that comes to mind is her artwork £100,000, an installation comprising of text and soil, which was exhibited for No Show in 2021 at Carriageworks.
I love seeing how writing and art intersect and how writing as an art practice takes form beyond characters on a page to shift the ideas of text away from purely written content into something that can be experimental and materially ephemeral.
A good intro to their work?
Here is a recent interview between Jazz Money and Neika Lehman for Artguide, discussing all things poetics, film and art!
What have you been up to lately? Any highlights?
I recently had some arts writing published in Performance Review, where I reviewed and incorporated a poetic response to Angela Goh’s performance work Pattern Recognition.
My favourite writing project I’ve worked on so far is actually being published later this year for unMagazine’s 17.2 issue, RETURN. I cannot wait for this issue to drop, and will announce when it’s live on Instagram!
More of Suzanne Claridge here.
Interview by Tahney Fosdike.
For more on arts writing:
David Willis: “It is my personal mission as an art writer to strike a balance between critical rigour and concise readability.”
One night in bed, I decided to stop saving tattoos on Instagram. The more I saved, the more ads popped up, each increasing my fear that most tattoos are badly chosen and badly executed, as if all rules of visual art and even aesthetic pleasure usually policing other artforms are irrelevant.
Carmela Vienna talks about the overreliance on AI in arts marketing and social media, and the need for more inspired, well-edited content, as well as treating arts marketing more seriously within arts orgs in general.
Too, with the Venice Biennale as a whole, in this unearthliness, the curatorial was a blur of impact and thought. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to achieve anything cohesive. I’m still not sure if it’s possible to look at, en masse like this, the variety of mediums, ideas, and cultural contexts and get it and not just be overwhelmed, weary, and clueless.
Haneen Mahmood Martin talks about shared accountability and diverse perspectives in the arts industry, matching words with actions—i.e., more POC in leadership positions—and the use of clear, accessible, but impactful language.
Liv Collins has an infectious energy rare in an industry of pretension. I’m really excited to feature her in this sticky teeth micro-interview for her truths about writing education at art school and some hot insider arts reading suggestions.
Anna Kate Blair speaks on the intersection of art, writing, and time. She explains her major concerns for lack of enough resources for the writing process itself, and also touches on history, capitalism and imagining alternative futures for creativity.
Brussels-based journalist Sarah Schug discusses the challenges of language in the art world, the need for accessibility, the diminishing value of art writing and her proud accomplishment—a self-published book on Iceland’s contemporary art scene.
Writer and editor Erin McFayden reflects on framing artistic activities as labour and advocating exploring the good it creates rather than its economic value – as well as her reccs for some artistic endeavours.
Writer Yazmin Bradley touches on the pressure on authors under the commercialisation of Bookstagram – how can we reclaim the creative process from capitalism? She also explores working with her grandmother on her memoir and the possibilities of Substack for creativity.