12 or 20 (second series) questions with Zachari Logan
Zachari Logan
is aqueer Canadian settler poet and artist whose artwork has been exhibitedthroughout North America, Europe and Asia. Logan’s work can be found incollections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery ofOntario, Remai Modern,Peabody Essex Museum, McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Nerman MOCA amongmany others. In 2014 Logan received the Lieutenant Governor’s EmergingArtist Award, in2015 he received the Alumni of Influence Award from the University ofSaskatchewan and in 2016 Logan was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award. In2010, his chapbook, A Eulogy for the Buoyant, was published by JackPinePress and in 2021, A Natural History of Unnatural Things, was publishedby Radiant Press. Logan’s artwork and writing has been featured in manypublications throughout the world. Zachari Logan lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.1 - How did your first book change your life?How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feeldifferent? In 2010 I had a chapbook published withJackPine Press, a lovely project driven publisher in Saskatoon that invitepoets and visual artists to co-create hand made books, only 75 copies are evermade. I submitted a project as both poet and artist and my project wasaccepted. That chapbook titled, A Eulogy for the Buoyant, consisted of11 poems all engaging the process of grieving my late father who died suddenlyof liver cancer when I was 22. It was a very powerful project in many distinctways, primarily it allowed me to creatively process the trauma of losing aparent. I often process everything in my life visually, in one way or another-but with this experience I was entirely unable to. I began simply writingthings down, strange remembrances, stranger feelings, and memories alwaysmemories, some tied to my dad others simply about a childhood that includedhim… I had years before taken a poetry class with the wonderful poet Tim Lilburn during the final year of my undergrad at the University ofSaskatchewan. I hadn’t had the inclination after the class that I was a poet orwriter by any leap of the imagination, but that I really appreciated how visualand philosophical poetry could be (like visual art) a conductor of greatquestions about life- a mode of communication that was textual by nature, butcould also be incredibly visual. My first full length book was A NaturalHistory of Unnatural Things, (2021) and it was it was a catalyst for mycontinued desire to write much more regularly, and with a more centredconfidence in my own voice.
2 - How did you come to visual art first, asopposed to, say, poetry, fiction or non-fiction? I was always drawing from early childhood. and for many years into myschooling could not either read or write without great difficulty because Ihave several overlapping forms of dyslexia. It was noticed at a young age, and fortunately for me I was in specialclasses throughout the course of my education. But it was definitely a strugglefor me.
3 - How long does it take to start anyparticular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is ita slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, ordoes your work come out of copious notes? For thepast several years I have listened to what I refer to as a ‘small generator’ ofparticular thoughts or kernels of ideas. I simply jot the bones of whateverthat is down when they occur to me- and later I either carry the thoughtfurther, if it needs it- or ignore it all together if it no longer appeals tome as an idea to pursue. There isn’t really a rhyme or reason to my writing inregard to speed, sometimes they pour out in a matter of minutes with littleediting- other times ideas grow small and need multiple versions before theyare fully formed.
4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you?Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project,or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning? Generally, thus far, my poetry begins with an accumulation… somewherein the middle I begin to see threads that tie a theme, of course that is, asidefrom the chapbook I mentioned, which was a more or less fully formed thing whenI proposed it.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter toyour creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings? I think poetry in particular has two lives, that of the readerenveloped in their own take on your writing, they are perhaps clothed in youwhile reading your words- and then there is the second life, which is theperformative act of reciting, reading as a source of origin, putting your wordson to read them out loud to an audience.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concernsbehind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with yourwork? What do you even think the current questions are? I often reflect on past personal experiences in an attempt to relatethem to both my present self and to what is happening more broadly in theworld. My personal thoughts on my queerness, atheism, the nature of creating,and my continual enchantments with nature and art history are mainstays. Alsorumination on places I have visited that help me to understand the world aroundme and reinforce a sense of place in the local.
7 – What do you see the current role of thewriter being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think therole of the writer should be? Writing has many roles. Ibelieve literacy is power. Writing a really good editorial requires a talentfor persuasion, writing an article for a scientific journal requires adifferent type of discipline and relationship to specific information and how itis communicated; writing poetry is vastly different from the first two forms-but in it's own way, equally important and impressive when done well. Theability to reflect on ideas and experiences of the world around us is uniquelyhuman. It is an important way to decipher how people and, more broadly howhuman systems operate. I am of the opinion that oral storytellers as well asthose who write down stories in the form of prose or poetry are at their best amirror to the reader or listener. If you see yourself the communication hasresonated in some fundamental way. In my experience this can cause revulsion,adoration, sympathy or more subtle reactions that echo the former. At presentthere has been a resurgence in readership of novels like 1984, Brave NewWorld and The Handmaid’s Tale- it’s really not that hard to imaginewhy- they have become classics relevant to the present moment because theymirror human experience.
8 - Do you find the process of working withan outside editor difficult or essential (or both)? Essential. The clarity it provides is akin for me to the differencebetween viewing one of my finished drawings in the studio and seeing it incontext installed in a museum or gallery.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you'veheard (not necessarily given to you directly)? Never take rejection personally. Very few people are going to win bigart or writing prizes- if you expect a lottery, don’t bother. Write or createbecause you cannot do otherwise, not for praise alone.
10 - How easy has it been for you to movebetween genres (poetry to visual art to collaboration)? What do you see as theappeal? I have not found it difficult at all. Eachtakes its time and requires its own process. These mentioned genres all seek atthe same outcome- to share and acknowledge our experiences of the world aroundus.
11 - What kind of writing routine do you tendto keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin? I don’t really have a routine when it comes to writing. It fills timewhen I have it to give. I would really benefit (I think) from a writingresidency. Like the multiple artist residencies I have done, I think it wouldhelp to structure my practice a bit more. Maybe this would be a hindrance, Idon't know- but I don’t getting the impression it would be.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where doyou turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration? I’m not sure I’ve ever been stalled, because I just let ideas come whenit they do… I’m not beholden to any particular deadline because I’m oftenrequired to be absorbed, time-wise by my visual work.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home? Coffee beans. My morning coffee ritual.
14 - David W. McFadden once said that bookscome from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work,whether nature, music, science or visual art? Nature,art history, music and science have all been influential- as well as thequotidian, the reality of passing existence without fully knowing why- I guessI like a good question, but I’m not always interested in concrete answers.Green, my new book engages all of these forms- it also includes a visualcomponent that are observations of artworks, plants, animals and otherinanimate objects, a compendium of 5 years of experience in no particularorder.
15 - What other writers or writings areimportant for your work, or simply your life outside of your work? As a queer person, I am fascinated by religion, by religious texts,particularly the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but am no longer. It did howeverleave a mark. I have been deeply influenced by its visual tradition. In myvisual practice, I often use catholic tropes to return a queer gaze onhistorical depictions of the male body. In my writing I have explored similarlythe fears and fixations these teachings and writings provoke in theiradherents. Notions of naturalness that exclude the queer experience, or work toother it- rather than understand it as a perfectly natural occurrence. I lovethe hypnotic language of fairy tales and often reference in particular theGrimm’s tales as well- I return to several Classical mythological charactersoften, Daphne and Persephone are particularly interesting to me due to theirconnections to rebirth and transformation.
16 - What would you like to do that youhaven't yet done? Maybe write a novel.
17 - If you could pick any other occupationto attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would haveended up doing had you not been a writer? I wouldhave worked in Theatre or film.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doingsomething else? In a strange way, my dyslexia drew me toboth visual art and writing.
19 - What was the last great book you read?What was the last great film? Book: Salman Rushdie, TheSatanic Verses. Two recent films I'd like to list: Night of The Hunter (1955);and A Face In The Crowd (1957)- which is frighteningly relevant in relation tothe current American administration.
20 - What are you currently working on? I’m just finishing up a one-month artist residency and exhibitionbetween Vienna, Austria and Sofia, Bulgaria. In the studio, I have several bigprojects presently in production for exhibitions in Italy this September andacross Canada over the next 2 years. I’m also carrying on writing in the midst.
