Interviewing Poppy Mae Higgins: Creating Art to Imitate lIFE
What was it that sparked your interest in creative writing and poetry?
I’ve always been a huge reader even when I was a child but during lockdown I got back into reading, especially reading poetry. When Taylor Swift brought out Folklore, I loved the music and began to realise that it was very similar to poetry. Also that year, Lana Del Ray brought out her poetry book ‘Violent Bent Backwards over the Grass’ - which definitely was a gateway into my interest in creative writing. I'd never really dipped into poetry or anything along those sorts of lines before lockdown. English was always my favorite and best subject at school but I took a few years off between secondary school and attending university so the passion.
Could you outline your recent project ‘Evidence of Atonement’?
‘Evidence of Atonement’ was created as a result of one of my university modules actually. It was really interesting to push the boundary with my creative work, not just putting pen to paper but to get experimental with the process of writing itself. It's a collection of poems that chronicle the experiences of females living in the FLDS (Former Latter Day Saints) community in the United States. A few years ago I watched the Netflix documentary ‘Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey’ and I was obsessed with it. I mean, obviously it touched on a very horrible subject but it was so interesting that I watched it over and over, then eventually branched out into watching other documentaries and reading the memoirs of some of the women that were in that community. The project I have made follows the life of a fictional girl in the FLDS community. I wanted to explore that topic in an appropriate manner. It became really important to me as the project went on to spread the word about the FLDS women in a creative way because there is a lot that those women wouldn’t have been able to express.
Poppy’s Exhibition
What was it that motivated you to work on ‘Evidence of Atonement’?
It took me a while to figure out why I was so touched by the documentary when I watched it, I was living in America at the time in an area that was very religious and I was surrounded by a lot of religious people. I do consider myself religious but not to the extent that is displayed by communities such as the FLDS. I was watching these women in the documentary and one of the biggest takeaways was my understanding that the FLDS community seems worlds away from us but their experiences are actually a reminder that society by large is dominated by men. I would encourage anyone to watch the documentary, especially for women it’s unifying to watch and think that we all aren’t that different at the end of the day. I think that my fascination had to be satisfied with the creation of something experimental. At the time of thinking about the project,, I was embroidering a lot of my own clothes and I was reminded of an exhibition by Zoe Buckman who had embroidered rap lyrics onto women's lingerie to comment on portrayals of femininity and misogyny in the music music genre. I realised that I could combine my love of this topic with experimental creativity in a way that reclaims the mundane task of embroidery that these women would likely be doing in their day-to-day life.
What goes into the process of planning an exhibition piece?
As I mentioned, the exhibition was a part of a project for my degree. The main thing for me throughout the creativity process was worrying about the project rather than the exhibition as a whole - I spent a lot of time completing my pieces including a shirt, a veil, posters and photographs. Actually, my sister and I staged a photoshoot which we had to set up specifically to make the photos appear that they were from the 90s. When it came to the exhibition day, a When it came to the exhibition day, a lot of the pieces made more sense to be hung up rather than laid on a table so positioning was an important part in finally bringing together the project.
Are there any artists that you draw inspiration from?
One of the biggest inspirations for this piece specifically was the singer/songwriter Ethel Cain. When I started the project I had heard of her but I hadn’t listened to her music; I was listening to the Spotify DJ function when I was working once and one of her songs was playing, I had been meaning to listen to her so I clicked on her album ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ and I’m not even kidding that album changed my life. My family and friends are definitely sick of me talking about her. That album talks about family, religious trauma, love and freedom which were all very integral to the project that I was undertaking at the time. I did a deep dive of her discography and I pretty much just listened to her everyday when I was completing the project, it definitely subconsciously influenced my work.
Do you have any upcoming projects that our audience should keep their eye out for?
The next main project that I'm working on is actually a sister-project to ‘Evidence of Atonement’. It’s to be confirmed but it will be 13-16 poems, a sequential collection so that they can be read individually but also in order to outline a story. ‘Evidence of Atonement’ follows the fictionalised story of a girl and her best friend trying to escape the FLDS community, this upcoming project will be from the perspective of that friend. It’s allowing me to explore the world I have created in ‘Evidence of Atonement’ in much more detail.
What qualifies as an ‘artistic success’ in your eyes?
When I first started my creative writing degree I thought that I’d be considered successful or feel happy if I had a book in Waterstones, or if I won an award. Now I’m at the point where if I create something that I’m happy with and personally proud of then that is a success to me. It is hard being so self-critical, when I create something and no longer need to visit it for edits that is a success to me. I was actually reading Madison Beer’s memoir this morning, and she said that if she sold out Madison Square Garden to play songs she didn’t like then she wouldn’t feel accomplished. It’s more important to produce for yourself, I’d be happier to produce something that I’m happy with that no one reads than to be a New York Times bestseller with a book I’m embarrassed to have to my name.
If you could encourage everyone to read and reflect upon one piece of literature/artwork, what would you recommend? Why?
I have two answers to this question. The first would be ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ by Ethel Cain as I mentioned before, as it’s an album I’d encourage people to really pay attention to the lyrics - I think that there’s something for everyone on there. In terms of a piece of literature, I would say ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Ottessa Moshfegh and ‘Our Wives Under the Sea’ by Julia Armfield. They are both books that focus on women’s mental health - I think it's really cool that this topic is coming to the forefront of popular literature nowadays.
