Interview conducted by Zara nneka

Photos by Electra Winter and nneka

Zara: Would you introduce yourself to our readers?

Electra: Hi readers! My name is Electra Winter. I am 22 years old and originally from England, I’m now based in Paris.

Zara: Tell us about your background, when did you first start to express yourself creatively?

Electra: Definitely when I was a kid. From a really young age I already realized I was inclined creatively more than anything else. When you recognize a talent you should pursue it, for sure.

Zara: You are someone who’s very passionate about climate change and it shows in your work, with plenty of natural motifs, especially the ocean and aquatic life. When did you begin to incorporate these motifs into your work?

Electra: I feel like I’ve always incorporated natural motifs in my work. As a child I was always interested in art and nature, and things like the Fibonacci sequence. I read a lot of Ernst Haeckel, particularly his book Art Forms in Nature. I’ve always been very fascinated by the beauty of nature and the beauty of the world. In terms of incorporating marine geology, it’s only been for the past year. It was a motif I added to my work subconsciously, as I began to see a lot of marine geology in my dreams and a lot of my dreams are underwater, particularly with rock formations, like arches. I see a lot of rock arches in my dreams.

Zara: What would you say is your favorite medium to work with? Why?

Electra: My favorite medium is definitely oil paint. There’s a physicality to it that compares to no other medium. It’s very manipulative compared to acrylic paint. I absolutely love blending, and I’m able to blend very well and create smoothness with oil paint. On the other hand, I can also get quite wild and expressive with it, so I feel like it’s quite a good tool to not only achieve what I want aesthetically, but also emotionally as well. Especially with the colors, I can convey my emotions.

Zara: Let’s say you have an idea or concept and you’re ready to move ahead with/realize. Do you have trouble picking which medium to begin the piece in? Or do you tend to experiment and try everything?

Electra: I don’t have trouble picking a medium to work in. I definitely always have so many ideas on the go, and ideas that are very different. I always like to work in different mediums. One idea I have at the moment is a performance art project, and it’s with mediums I’ve never used before. There’s gonna be crochet harnesses involved, and I’m collaborating with other people because there’s some things I can’t actually make because I don’t have the skills in that medium. However, I do know some talented artists and fashion designers who do, so I’m going to include them in it.

Actually recently I came up with this concept on polysexual identities. It was the first project in a while that was purely conceptually driven, and it was really about creating a visual dialogue or conversation about polysexuality and trying to figure out what kind of medium I want. Originally I wanted to do interviews, something more text-based. I explored different ideas and ultimately have decided to combine digital photography and cyanotypes. I’ve been trying to learn how to turn digital photographs into cyanotypes - printing them in black & white on negative photo paper and then exposing them to UV light. So sometimes I’ll come up with one idea, and the more I think about the concept I find it’ll work better in a different medium. I do adjust the mediums based on the concept for sure.

Zara: You had your first solo show over the summer - what was that like?

Electra: It was so great. I had zero expectations - I didn’t know if anyone was going to come. I told myself I was just going to do it for the experience. My whole village was there, it was a great show, and I actually managed to sell a lot, which I was surprised about. I’d only ever sold one painting before, and I don’t even remember how much I ended up selling - probably over 20 paintings - so that was cool.

Zara: Do you feel like Paris is an accommodating place for young/student artists? What has your experience been like as an art student here?

Electra: I think compared to the majority of the world, it is. But in a way I also think it isn’t. Compared to London, Amsterdam, Berlin and other places I’ve experienced, Paris is much more... There's more of a culture in those other places to be open-minded and free, but I associate the youth in Paris as quite conservative, quite square, and not very creative. I feel like there are more creatives in London, but maybe that’s because I’m not really French-speaking. The Paris art world is older, like thirty-plus.

Zara: Do you sense like young artists here feel the need to conform more, compared to other cities?

Electra: Yeah, for sure. I saw a quote the other day at the Pompidou, and it said something like, “Paris is the city to come and be whatever you want”. And I was thinking that maybe in a different time it was, but not anymore.

Zara: There definitely used to be a more “bohemian” Paris...

Electra: Yeah. I don’t think Paris is very bohemian anymore. I mean I’m living in Montmartre, and I find it’s a very conservative, bougie place. On the other hand, just walking in Paris you see so many posters for events for young artists and creatives. So on the flip side, I do think if you go out and look for it, there definitely are so many things you can do.

Zara: The events are not lacking, but there’s definitely a culture of exclusivity.

Electra: Exactly. These things all come with a price as well. I wanted to go to an event at the Pompidou the other day and it was 17 euros. They’d opened up a whole floor and there was a DJ set, things like that...

Zara: That’s bizarre, I’ve been to events like that at the Pompidou and they were completely free. It’s definitely a “if you know you know” type of situation.

Electra: It is weird. I also wanted to go to Art Basel, but even the youth tickets were 27 euros. I was like, “I’m not spending nearly 50 euros for two events”. So I think that’s also a reason why Paris is so frustrating - it does cost money to go to these things sometimes. It’s hard to be a “starving artist” in Paris. It has the places, it has the events, but they come at a price. But I still think young or student artists should come to Paris!

Zara: What are your favorite art museums or galleries in Paris?

Electra: Centre Pompidou I absolutely love, they have great exhibitions. Their permanent collection has a nice amount of work, too. The architecture of the building is absolutely insane, and I think I like it so much because at the time it was built it was so hated - art is all about being provocative and doing something new, so I do like the building for those reasons. Palais de Tokyo has great events, it’s also a gorgeous building. I also want to give a shout-out to a smaller gallery - Atelier Véron [in the 18th]. The last time I cried at a painting was in that gallery. They’re always supporting local living artists, which I like and think is so important. They show a lot of living women artists, as well, they really have a variety of things.

Zara: In addition to your artwork, you also write poetry. Could you tell us about that, how’d you get started?

Electra: I’ve always really loved poetry and creative writing. As a child, I started to learn that with poetry there was more room for creative freedom in poetry than in essay-writing or prose. I connect with poetry a lot more than something like a novel, for example. I feel like even in just one line, you can sum up a concept in such a thoughtful and beautiful and atmospheric way. You can get a lot more creative with words, and also just challenging rules and regulations of sentences - that’s why I’ve always been more inclined towards poetry. The first poem I ever remember writing was a haiku. I wrote it when I was like 8 or 9, it was about a woman giving birth.

Zara: Your first poem is always a haiku...

Electra: [Laughs] Exactly! My teacher went, “WTF?” I can recite it, I think it went something like:

Doctor, doctor, help


My baby is coming out

Ooch, eech, ouch! That hurt

And then I drew a picture of a stick-woman giving birth with a stick-man doctor next to her. I love poetry and I love combining it with my paintings. For a lot of my paintings, I’ll write poems about the geological landmarks within them. I feel like they go hand-in-hand even if they’re two completely different ways of processing information, pairing poetry and painting.

Zara: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to express themselves or a concept, but isn’t sure what medium to start with?

Electra: The first thing you do is get a pencil. Get a pencil and piece of paper, then start jotting ideas down about the concept and how you want to express it. That’s sort of what I do with poetry. And in one of my recent paintings, a geological landmark that I depict is a shield. The shield represents my self-defense mechanisms, how I am with people and how I try to protect myself from any pain and suffering that the world brings with relationships and love. When I first started on that idea, I got a pencil and paper and started writing everything that I felt. I tried to find objects and motifs that go with these feelings. The best advice I have to give is don’t even think about what medium you’re going to use - just immediately write things down, document.