Who is Kate Ceberano?
I am an artist
What would you do differently from what you do now?
I would be more detailed and deliberate about the way I make art and take less advice from people who are not artists.
Who inspires you and why?
I’m inspired by writers in the main. Tim Winton, Amor Towles, Geraldine Brooks, American writers from the 50’s Hemingway, Harper Lee, Jack Kerouac. Their words are like music in all forms. They evoke “movies in my mind” and give me a mantle for which my internal voice can compare reality from fiction.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I will continue to make music and use my platform as an artist to provoke emotion and humanity in listeners so that “in the dark” in their car, in the cinema on a plane they can feel connected to themselves and hopefully the world around them. Remain civilised and seek to become more civilised in the truest sense of the word. Not isolated and alone.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
We have friends who have the most beautiful house in Lorne. When they invite us to stay my hearts sings and we three bears plus dog, pack the boards, books and cards, leave the phones alone and put on gumboots and warm jumpers and head down the coast. The area is so wild and unpredictable, classic Victorian beauty all dusky tones of grey and eucalyptus blue. To fall asleep to the sound of the ocean as it aspirates in and out is the best therapy money can’t buy.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
I love old school Heidelberg- Eltham area. It has Montsalvat and the Heide Museum of Modern Art. You can find scones and cream and walk the thousand steps in the Dandenongs. There really is nothing like it. The air feels earthy damp and mineral.
What are you currently reading?
You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles.
What are you currently listening to?
Jarvis Cocker radio. I LOVE HIM.
Happiness is?
Dancing to “Common People” with gay abandon and explaining to my daughter how the world was before social media.
What does the future hold for you?
Art, art, art and then more ART. I feel like I can never quite get enough of finding new ways to discover ways to art. Music, writing, painting, living.
Kate will share the inspiration behind her recent book, Unsung, at the Brisbane Writers Festival on Thursday 30 May 2024. For more information, visit: www.bwf.org.au for details.
Image: Kate Ceberano – photo by Justine Walpole