"Conversations" - 2

Q / Did your parents both work when you were a child? Whom do you consider to have been your primary caretakers?

 

A /Yes, both my parents worked very long hours when I was a child. From the age of one I was in full time childcare, and when I began primary school I was in "aftercare" every day until 6pm. My primary carer from the age of 7 - 15 was my maternal grandfather.

 

Q / In your teens, did you ever have a dream of what your life would be like in terms of career and/or children?

 

A /I never thought about children as part of my plan, but I was very ambitious, planning to be various things from an architect, to an actress to the prime minister of Australia. I was certain that I wanted to study and that I would have a PhD by the time I was 30 and speak four languages. At the same time though I was very involved in making art and towards the end of my teens that became my primary focus.

 

Q / To what extent have you fulfilled these dreams from above? Do parts still remain a dream but not a reality? Have you acquired new dreams for the years to come?

 

A / Well I am still a practicing artist, and that is my primary occupation, so I have achieved that goal, although without any of the stability that is usually associated with success, but all of the mobility! I was awarded my PhD when I was 27 so I can tick that one, but I speak three out of the four languages badly, so I think I was a bit unrealistic. I think much more about the possibility of having a family now than I did then, but I haven't really made any steps in that direction as it seems incompatible with my career as an artist at the moment.

 

Q / If you work, are you satisfied with what you do? Please explain.

 

A / I love the challenge that my work presents me and I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from directing my own research and seeing the results made public. That said, I find it very difficult to be so invested in such a precarious career, and the fact that it impacts on my ability to build more of a homelife, which I would like.

 

Q / How do you think having children would affect your career goals currently and in the future?

 

A / At this point I think it would mean the end of my career as an artist and the beginning of life as a full-time university lecturer. As I only have yearly residence permits in Germany, I think it would be difficult for me to obtain government support, although I'm not sure about that. So it might mean leaving Germany, which has been my home for five years, in order to seek reliably paid work. At the moment it feels like that is all too much of a sacrifice. If I became more successful financially as an artist I might be able to manage it - basically I could only have children if I could afford full time childcare.

 Q / Please write a short blurb on whether you work (and if yes, in what field and with what types of working times), whether you have children (and if yes, whether they are in daycare etc), and whether you have any particular hobbies. If you would like, state which country currently live in.

A / I am a self-employed artist living in Berlin, although currently on a residency in Milan, and I earn money through a combination of sales of artworks, public and private project grants, artist fees from museums and galleries for exhibiting works, and occasional lecturing in universities. I am currently supported by a year-long fellowship. I have no fixed working hours at all - I structure my day entirely based on what kind of work I need to do, which is determined on a project-by-project basis.