Written by Farida Amar
Caroline Huntley Coxe is a queer ecofeminist writer and multimedia visual artist presenting work on ecology, anatomy, mythology, and the supernatural. Caroline believes in the healing power of art and places a great emphasis on the rituals of making. It is this same celebration of healing and ritual, that led her to also become a birth doula. So, if you’re queer and artsy and having a baby, give her a call.
Caroline graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in Studio Art from Skidmore College. While at Skidmore, Caroline spent a year abroad in Florence, and worked at the Tang Museum where she curated an exhibition titled Lover Earth on ecosexuality and environmental justice. She is one of many who now find themselves transitioning from higher education into a COVID-19-work-mostly-from-home-by-yourself context. In an effort to stay connected to other artists, she began searching for resources and likeminded groups to join. Around this time we had also posted an open call for editors, and the rest is history.
In her first two months, Caroline has copy edited a handful of online articles for sovoprojects.com, including overseeing the launch of an entirely new column on experimental analog film developed to accompany Negative Efforts, a workshop series designed by Jack X Proctor to introduce SOVO// analog photographers to alternative processing and unusual printing techniques. Caroline is also editing all of the workshop descriptions and will be overseeing much of the copy editing for the forthcoming Negative Efforts hardcover book scheduled for publishing in 2022.
Caroline has helped SOVO// setting up their new submission-based system for writers. She is now working with Kythe to comb through all of the submissions for Issue 9 and is assisting Kythe in the editing process for a full issue of SOVO// for the first time. We are excited to see her grow and develop here and look forward to the evolution of her very own creative processes.
I asked Caroline a few questions so you could get to know her a little. Here’s what she had to say:
Who are you, why do you believe you exist?
I am a storyteller, an artist, a seed sower, a doula, a healer. I am queer, I am a daughter, a sister, a lover, a friend.
All these things that I know I am and yet I have no fucking idea why I exist. I am just trying to do the least amount of damage possible while I’m here and hope to leave behind some art and some lessons that will help the Earth and its inhabits along their journey of healing.
Where are you from, where are you now, and where do you want to go?
I was born in Portland, Maine three months after my maternal grandmother passed away, at which point her soul left her body and latched onto mine inside my mother’s womb. I grew up in Maine with my mother, father, brother, and pets while unwittingly carrying this extra soul for my entire childhood and adolescence.
This information is pertinent because I am four days out from an energy psychologist quite literally exorcising my grandmother’s soul from my body. So, where am I now? I am in Los Angeles and I am also alone in my body for the first time in my life, getting used to the eerie quietness and the space to move within myself.
As for where I want to go, the lofty visions I have for my future tend to be fleeting, so I am hesitant to share, knowing that almost every plan I have ever made has been intercepted by fate. However, on any given day, you can pretty much put money on me wanting to go to a mountain stream somewhere. That will never change.
How did you find SOVO// and what were your personal reasons for joining?
I connected with Farida through a Facebook group, Womxn Artists of LA. I had just curated an exhibition about ecosexuality, and so the timing was almost serendipitous when I submitted an application for an editor position because the upcoming issue on sustainability will include an article about ecosexuality/sexecology.
For me, the timing could not have been more perfect. I just graduated college in the middle of a global pandemic and economic crisis. I don’t know anybody in LA. I am dying for a creative community. SOVO// is made up of the exact type of interdisciplinary artists and visionaries that I have been craving in my life. SOVO// is willing to throw conventions out the window in pursuit of something that is collaborative, inclusive, and experimental.
All the stuffy mumbo jumbo that accompanied formal arts education left a really bitter taste in my mouth. From the moment I left college, I’ve been hoping to find a group of freaks and weirdos to collaborate with and nurture my creativity. I believe I have found that in SOVO//.
Caroline Coxe
Define the craft of writing in your own words.
Writing can be so many things. It is a practice, a tool, a catharsis. As a writer and a visual artist, writing is the most immediate way to get an idea onto paper for me; I often begin a visual artwork by writing out how I envision it. But getting an idea down on paper barely scratches the surfaces of writing as a craft. For me, the craft of writing is about making words sound new: carefully curating each word to build a sentence that is artful and original.
Most of this happens in the editing process. Often times, that first stream of consciousness can end up a little trite or derivative, so editing is crucial. You spend more time with your writing than anyone else ever will. Your connection to your writing becomes profoundly intimate as you rework and reshape the sentence until you have created something beautiful. What is that saying? “Writing is rewriting…”
What are some of the moments of your life that you are the most proud of?
The transition to remote-learning due to COVID-19 threw a pretty big wrench in my senior thesis plans, so instead of the immersive silkscreen installation that I had been working on for months, I familiarized myself with Sculpey, taught myself After Effects, and created a claymation film from my tiny bedroom. When my advisor saw it, he told me that he had never met an artist that could adapt as well to circumstances as I had, and that was one of the proudest moment of my life.
Luna Moth Bandana, dyed with indigo and hand painted. Caroline Coxe, 2019.
What are some mistakes you’ve made and what have you learned from them.
I make tons of mistakes! It could be something small and benign like planting my beets at the wrong time of year. Other mistakes have had larger ramifications, like picking the wrong college, or hurting someone I love. No matter how big or small, I have found that the only thing to do when you make a mistake is to face it head on. Don’t downplay the impact or consequences. Own it, and fix it. I pulled the beets and planted herbs in their place. I transferred schools (twice). I asked the person I love what they need from me to feel safe and cared for. Trying to explain away my mistake is not going to make the beets grow, it’s not going to make me happy at my school, and it is not going to encourage someone to forgive me.
What is something you want to do before you die?
Grow a garden abundant enough to provide at least half of my food needs.
Who/what inspires you most?
Medicinal plants, bodies of water, and the queer community.
What is your favorite book?
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Advice for aspiring artists?
Nurture your creative practice every day, even if it’s in small ways.
