Interview With Louise Manifold:
By Robin Quinn, Taylor O’ Connell, and Sophie Barling.
‘’ How did you find your college course, what was your first day of college like?’’
Louise started by saying she was not that interested in college at all, which was an interesting response for us. In comparison to Katherine who seemed to be very sure of her inspiration early in life, Louise was more unsure at the beginning. Louise never enjoyed school, she went to a catholic school which was quite conservative, and she felt out of place until college. Like Katherine, Louise’s mother was also an artist, and her sisters too. Growing up surrounded by artistic influences, she always knew she was creative but found she often couldn’t see past the present moment. she preferred to focus on the now and couldn’t think about the future. Despite all this, she applied for an art course at GMIT (now ATU). This made a connection for us, as our lecturer studied in the same college we do. Louise described herself as more of an alternative person, so her first day of college was filled with shock and excitement when she found so many similar people. She noticed a lot of people dressed like her, she said ‘’I felt at home in art college, everyone was creative’’. She was happy about finding her crowd, and her social life was exciting, and like most students she admitted to never feeling that interested in studying, she was much more interested in going out with her friends after class.
‘’Was digital media always your main interest?’’
which Louise responded by saying ‘absolutely not!’’, she told us there was always a lot of stuff she wanted to do, but becoming a film maker was her number one goal early on, and she didn’t always like digital media. She enjoyed experimental film making, photography and sculpture – specifically creating sculptures out of meat, documenting them rot and decay.
It wasn’t until Louise went to London, that her interest in media peaked. As software became more available, she became more interested. As a mix of film making and photography were her main mediums at this time, she began to feel more in control of her work with digital media. She found the process of finding a passion very gradual.
Louise, still not feeling fully committed to college life and studying, after she graduated, travelled to London and Thailand. not really thinking about what she wanted to do as a career. After travelling she broke her leg, having to rest and not being able to do much made her really start to think about her life. She then decided to do her masters in London.
‘’Have you ever had any doubts in your career, is this what you always wanted to do?’’
which Louise responded with, she has doubts in her career every day, like most people you feel like you're always being tested. She said you're constantly questioning yourself, ‘’Why am I doing this?’’. Louise said you always feel like you're being tested, you may have bad experiences but there is always going to be something that pulls you back in, to remind you why you are doing this. She admitted that sometimes she gets thrown, sometimes she really doesn’t know what to say when it comes to her own work or students work, but there is always a solution.
As Louise went to the same college as us, we were interested to know if there were many differences between the college then and now. She told us how exam results used to be hung up on the main corridor door for everyone to see, rather than receiving their results privately. This is hugely different to how we access our results online. Classes were still quite small, and they were very social and close in class, she mentioned that there was a type of safety in the college and being a part of a class.
‘’How has the societal influence on certain topics such as feminism, the LGBTQ+ community, etc, changed within your practice and life experience, compared to when you were in college?’’
Louise responded that the societal influence was ‘always there.’ She said that feminism was always central to her in her own work. Louise told us she was involved in student protests while at college, she said that protesting for student rights and facilities connected her with others. She found a solidarity between people who shared her beliefs. She talked about how being open about certain topics was quite hard at the time, but as time goes on you become more open. She also stated ‘’your voice gains velocity as you get older.’ At the time it may have been more difficult to have the confidence to speak out about these topics but as you grow your confidence becomes stronger.
