Interview with Lydia Hounat
Interdisciplinary artist and alumna Lydia Hounat.
We were lucky enough to catch alumna Lydia Hounat hanging out in The Lighthouse this week following her Lighthouse Launch writing workshop. Here she shares her thoughts on happiness, writing, Falmouth and (of course) peanut butter.
Amy Lilwall: Tell us who you are
Lydia Hounat: I am a British-Algerian interdisciplinary artist. I’ve been writing poetry for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t think it would be a valid career until I was 17 and I started getting published. When I came to Falmouth I started doing some modelling. I quickly realised that I liked being behind the lens instead of in front of it and I became interested in the relationship between the visual and the written word and wondered are they – or are they not – the same thing. I am now working as a freelance photographer and content writer while doing an MA at the Royal College of Art (RCA) part-time. My MA is on French aesthetic and social anthropology. Right now I am looking specifically at the Karakou jacket in Amazigh culture and writing on providing recognition for a marginalised demographic – the Amazighen people. Since around 7000 BC their identity has been continually quashed by colonialisation – notably French colonialism. I suppose now I’m sort of specialising in inherited trauma, which refers to this notion that we inherit trauma from our parents, grandparents etc and this is particularly prevalent in families from marginalised backgrounds, such as my father’s.
AL: I love peanut butter too…
LH: If you’re hungover, peanut butter, if you’re tired peanut butter. My dad’s obsessed with it. He can eat whole jars of it. That’s my inherited trauma – there’s never any bloody peanut butter because my dad’s been at it.
AL: Why have you been visiting so often recently?
LH: What Falmouth?
AL: Yes.
LH: Erm, so I still go in to use the facilities throughout the year, the photography facilities mainly – just because they are better than anywhere else. The honest truth is that I was kind of in a relationship with someone and I was irrevocably changed by it and it kept bringing me back here. Then it ended. As soon as lessons ended at RCA I moved out of London, because being there actually compounded the pain and prolonged it. Falmouth helps me to feel the best version of myself and I just feel wonderful here, so I moved back to enjoy my life again. I made new friends instantly whilst revisiting and strengthening my old friendships too. I started seeing someone else. Everything I hoped I would be able to do in London but couldn’t is happening here. I am doing better here for myself, mentally, physically, emotionally and career-wise.
AL: So you’ve broken up with London.
LH: I’ve broken up with London, Amy. But my relationship with Falmouth worked out.
AL: You mentioned that your career is doing better – how?
LH: I have more freelance commissions. I met someone who worked at Plymouth University a few months back on a train. He said, ‘if you’re gonna be looking for jobs, I know a guy who loves helping people out’. He sent me this guy’s email, and I persistently sent messages until he responded. And when he did I went for a meeting with him. We drew up a statement about me and he sent it out to people he felt would be interested in working with me. From that, a few people got in touch. Mainly about the possibility of pushing their creative content through writing and photography. I’ve also done some photography events for the Duchy Health Charity and I’m also looking into setting up some writing workshops with a collaborator.
It feels good to be paid to take pictures and to do copywriting, to gain those experiences. I don’t know many graduates who are paid to do what they graduated in, so I feel lucky in that sense. That said, these commissions are few and far between and it takes time to build that portfolio and those connections... But for me the most important thing is the hub of people around me. I think ultimately it is not just about making money, it’s about the opportunities of surrounding yourself with the right people and facilitating interesting discourses, learning from each other. For me, conversations are scintillating and interesting and very, very different here. In London, I was very sedate because I felt like I was just pushing out the writing that they asked me to do, and the conversations were deeply interesting but it was exhausting, it wasn’t pleasurable, it was an intimidating atmosphere.
I do believe that RCA made me a better writer – they grilled me and forced me to look hard at my work in order to become better, it was like standing in a room full of literary Gordon Ramsays – but I was incredibly isolated. I was the youngest person in my class and other people were more reaffirmed in their practices whereas I was still deciding. I had my degree of minor success (as I describe it), I ran (still run) two magazines, REALITY BEACH in New York and SOBER, and I felt that my youth and background placed me at a disadvantage.
AL: What’s your fondest memory of Falmouth before?
LH: In class or…
AL: Either.
LH: I’ve got so many, but I suppose thinking about memories that pertain to the departments I worked in… And I want to say both of them because I am split between English and Creative Writing and Photography.
Some of my fondest memories were after a lesson with Jerome and David and Adam. We would sometimes go into the Thirsty Scholar and just get a drink and have a chat and a talk and spend time outside of the classroom and laugh, really, really hard.
The other memory I have is mainly about the cheeky banter with the store staff and techs in the photography department. They are honestly so helpful and so lovely!
I remember enjoying sitting down in Fox Rosehill Gardens and just writing there. There was that moment that my 35mm camera came in the post and I was experimenting with pictures, walking around town, sitting in the hammock at the orchard on the Penryn campus. There were difficult times but it was the best three years… The best three years.
Oh, and seeing you with green nails Amy!
AL: Why thank you, Lydia.
LH: They’re like emeralds, aren’t they? I like them.
AL: Do you have any tips for our current students?
LH: Ffff… Um, when you start to feel claustrophobic in Falmouth - get out. Get out for about three weeks. Go and think about something else, because it’s necessary. After your three-year degree, you might think that you can’t wait to get away but the nostalgia creeps back in steadily. Staying calm too, that’s a big one. Cornwall’s a powerful place but from my experience, it always helps people to self-reflect and grow, and be better. Self-reflection can be challenging in that regard, but it’s necessary, and staying calm helps to process better I think.
Don’t confine yourself to one department – go and use the photography building, go and use AMATA, talk to people, absorb information, add to your workload, experiment with other artistic practices. I used all the facilities here and I feel like I really made the most of my time at Falmouth.
You don’t need to put the heating on in Cornwall until December, and even then, just put on another jumper or two. Do not waste your money on central heating! That really gets on my wick but I suppose that’s because I’m from Manchester and central heating’s still kind of a luxury, at least it was for us growing up. Still though, a couple of extra layers do the job.
And finally – Cavendish Coffee House. They do the most beautiful chocolate brownies – they are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Next level. Every mouthful is just like an orgasm. Those healed me and they would again. But if that doesn’t work, go to the burrito bar.
AL: Lydia, will you come and see us soon?
LH: Well I live here now – so probably tomorrow, I guess! I’ll see you then!
by Amy Lilwall and Lydia Hounat