Individual Residencies
2023 | Cathy Rose
During the residency, I made progress on a novel, but my quieter intention was to shake up my creative process. I know my writing becomes freer, more true, when I take the time to go out and look around, have conversations, feel the texture of a new place. I looked forward to the opportunity for that.
The characters in my novel have lofty spiritual ideas of how to “see” more deeply into things, but they often forget to just notice what’s around them. My novel explores how we humans so easily substitute big ideas for experience, how we struggle to stay curious. I was actively mining this terrain.
I also continued my collaboration with fellow resident, artist Tash Kahn, writing flash fiction pieces to accompany Polaroid photos she took around Collemacchia. I love the surprise in seeing what words/stories come in simply looking closely at a single image.