To describe Australian born artist Chole Coles is a close to impossible, she’s a bit of an enigma, in person she’s effortlessly laidback, warm and gentle, but a seriously considered artist and thinker. Her fascinations and passions change daily, but she’s wholly and completely focussed on whatever it is that captures her attention at that given moment, it’s a trait you can see clearly in her work. She’s endlessly fascinated by both the strange and the mundanely everyday.
She recently spent three months holed up in a sharehouse filled with strangers in Seyðisfjörður, a small, tight-knit but eclectic artist community nestled in a valley deep in the mountains of eastern Iceland. Home to a population of around 700 people Seyðisfjörður regularly hosts artists residencies, inviting creatives from across the world to come together, mingle with the locals and create over a three month period.
Enclosed by mountain walls dotted with waterfalls, 24 hour summer sunlight and bizzare, snow capped moon like neighbouring landscapes, the town is visually stunning, but buzzing beneath the surface of this postcard perfect veneer is something else, a sense of isolation, inaccessibility and some who visit find themselves in a self-imposed position of exile, cut off from the rest of the world in what feels like the most isolated corner of the globe. There’s much more to the place than what’s on the surface, in fact it’s quite like Coles herself.
We visited Coles in her home studio in Seyðisfjörður, then spoke to her upon her return to find out about the world she created, learn about her reflections on Iceland and discover just how profound an effect the countryside of Iceland had on her.
Heya Chloe, just to begin can you please tell us a little about yourself?
I am from a place called Stanwell Park, in NSW Australia and I’m 24 years old (as of yesterday). Everyday I like something different, today I am interested in pickling things. I have filled my mother’s fridge with jars upon jars. Tomorrow I think that I will paint.
You’re mainly a painter by practice, but you’re not formally trained, how did you get into the world of painting?
I had learning difficulties amongst other things and in my mid teens a psychologist suggested that I find something to focus on. I started painting at that time. For me it is meditation and I am really grateful for it.
What are your favourite themes to explore in your work?
Things that I know.
Where do you typically work and what mediums do you use?
I work in a studio I have out the back of my parents house. It is actually just a small gazebo that my dad built. Sometimes I paint on the floor sometimes I paint standing up. I generally use oil paint on canvas.
Do you have any specific place/ person/ thing you draw from in terms of inspiration? What is it?
I find inspiration in the overwhelming feeling of wanting to remember something exactly as it was for me, confusions in my life, the melancholia of watching somebody that you love do ordinary things.
You recently spent three months in the town of Seyðisfjörður, in eastern Iceland, can you tell us a bit about it?
Seyðisfjörður is a crazy place, I’m not sure I can describe. The first few days were incredibly liberating and relaxing. The three months that followed that were all quite intense. It is really beautiful and quite eerie. It felt like purgatory.
Why did you decide to go there?
I wanted to be alone.
Can you tell us a little about the residency program you were part of while you were there?
The program is called ‘Heima’. There were six of us who lived together in a three story house. There was a Japanese performance artist, two American artists, a Dutch film director and a Korean jazz musician. It was a strange dynamic always. I lived in the attic. A large studio is attached to the bottom and you all share the space.
What did daily life look like in a remote Icelandic town? Did you have a regular schedule?
There was no schedule. Three months in the Summer meant 24 hour daylight. I barely slept. It was very disorientating. Sometimes I would go hiking at 2am.
What was the biggest challenge and the most rewarding aspects of the experience?
The biggest challenge was getting my artworks home. I had 17 large scale paintings rolled into a three meter long tube. They made it to Sweden where I tried to re-check them onto my next flight but they were stopped and I was advised that I would have to pay $2000 USD (200,000 yen) to get them on. Which I didn’t have. I had to leave them in the middle of the airport. I nearly missed my flight trying to figure out another way.
Three months of work I thought that I would never see again. It is humbling putting so much time and energy into something and having it taken out of your hands like that. The most rewarding part for me was making things that I was proud of. I surprised myself so much.
You also created a book while you were there, from what I remember it was a little bit of collaborative effort, can you tell us about it?
I made the photobook out of film photos that I had developed myself. It was my first time developing so they came out pretty shabby but I had fun doing it. A lot of the photos were of the people I met over there. I decided I wanted them to write something over the photo of themselves. I am obsessed with the way people think about things.
Do you think you learnt anything about yourself while there?
I learnt that I am quite fragile. Which I hate to admit. I am consumed by how I make people feel.
What’s it like now being back in Australia? What are your plans for the rest of the year and looking forward?
I arrived back home and felt completely empty. It really drained me. I was very paranoid for reasons that are beyond me. I have been back for almost two months now and things are beginning to make sense again.
Originally from Australia, in 2016 Lucy left her job as an editor of a culture and music magazine in Melbourne to live, work and travel in Japan. Between freelance writing and traveling, she’s been dabbling in film some very amateur film photography, which you can check out on her Instagram: @lucy.dayman. Check out her other writing work and photos at lucydayman.com
