Livonne Larkins

DAY 10

Livonne is a photographer based in the Blue Mountains (a magnificent range of Mountains in NSW) who tells truly relatable stories through her images - including dark, scary ones covering things people don’t like to think about. I feel honoured when people let me visit their places and share their stories. This yarn had me in tears and I respect Livonne for sharing her personal and creative journey with me. I believe that it is important to have conversations about Mental Health because life is a beautiful precious thing!

Petra: Where are you based?

Livonne: Born and raised in Victoria, I am now based in Katoomba which is in the beautiful Blue Mountains Range in NSW.

Petra: Why are people drawn to the Blue Mountains Range?

Livonne: Are we drawn to the Blue Mountains or does the Blue Mountains draw us into its bosom? The Blue Mountains has a healing energy and I think that’s what attracts people, even if they don’t know it. I almost think the Blue Mountains attracts people it wants and draws them to its beauty. I was told when I first shifted here that if the Mountains wants you, she will open her arms to you and that definitely has been my experience.

Petra: How does your environment affect your art?

Livonne: Shifting here from the place I had called home for 46 years, I was not in a good state of mind. I had a lifetime of trauma surrounding me and I left Victoria to try to get some peace in my life. The traumas I had endured had left me with mental health issues and no real interest in life. At that time, I didn’t think I had anything to offer the world and had never considered myself particularly creative. When the Blue Mountains wrapped her healing arms around me and I started to find myself again, I was able to start to explore a more creative lifestyle. At the age of 51, I went back to Nepean TAFE and decided to study photography. I then found that I could tell my story in a gentle way that didn’t scare me. I think it’s fair to say that without living here, I would never have become the artist I am, something I will never take that for granted.

Petra: How would you describe what you do and your style?

Livonne: While I work primarily with fine art / conceptual photography, I think of myself as a Visual Storyteller first and foremost. I read a quote by Jonathan Gottschall a few years ago that I love. It says, “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” Story is the one ingredient in everything I create. Whether it’s an image, a headdress, a costume or a sculpture, there is always a story behind it, even if the viewer doesn’t see it straight away. None of my work is made just for the sake of making art. It has to mean something, and it must carry a part of MY story in it. I generally use a painterly, fairy tale style which I find is a gentle way of telling a dark story. It’s not as confronting as laying it all out on the table. However, the more you delve into my work, the more you will see. At first glance, it just looks like a quirky little image but what lays beyond the quirk?

Petra: What does your creative process look like?

Livonne: My creative process is a bit all over the place. I have ADHD which, in my case, means I have 150 thoughts running through my mind at any one time. I might be watching a movie (quite often a kid’s movie) and I will be inspired by the smallest thing in it and my mind starts planning a whole story from that. It may be that the movie has triggered a memory and I realise there is something in the back of my mind that needs to be released. Also, I wake up often having created a piece of art in a dream and I write it down and work on it when it calls me back to it. My work is all very organic. I don’t plan as such. I don’t go in with preconceived notions of what it should look like. I merely have an idea then I let it take its course. Once I have the idea, I start to think about costume and again, I let the recycled materials take me where they want the story to go. I love being surprised by the process and outcome.

Petra: What role does fairy tale play in your work?

Livonne: Fairy tale, like story, is at the base of all my work. Sorry to get dark, but it is part of my history, and so to answer this question, I need to give you some background. As a very young child, I was routinely sexually abused by a family member. I never told my parents or anyone else as I was too scared of the repercussions. However, I developed a skill that helped me survive. I was able to separate myself from the situation and my soul would wander off to a place of comfort. I would be off in the Magic Faraway Tree with Dame Washalot and Moonface, or I was having a tea party on the ceiling with Michael and Jane Banks from Mary Poppins. I was often in the Seven Dwarf’s cottage with Snow White or in Cinderella’s attic. I was anywhere but in reality!

When years later, I found myself in a horrendous domestic violence situation, I found myself turning to fairy tales again. I longed for the safety of them and allowed myself to drift away again. My daughter Aimee was killed on an access visit, and I couldn’t find comfort anywhere but, having young sons, we all numbed our mind with fantasy movies. I knew that was where my comfort (and theirs) lay.

So, when they grew up and the time came that I knew I could no longer live with my story on my own, I knew I had to find a safe way to tell it. The medium of fairy tale felt like the place I could be most comfortable, even as an adult. So, in 2019 I had my first solo exhibition called ‘From Fractured to Fairytale’. It was without doubt, the most cathartic thing I have ever done. Facing my demons, all in the safety of a fairy tale felt like the most natural thing I could ever do.

Petra: ‘Hope’, why is it important for it to be present in your work?

Livonne: My beautiful Mum always told me that every cloud has a silver lining and I believed her as she was my hero. As a result, I’ve always lived in the hope that things will get better. There will be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I mean, Cinderella’s life got better. So did Snow White’s. Mine could too. It took me a long time to recognise this childlike part of myself and even longer to accept it as a strength not a weakness, but when I did, I knew I wanted to add hope to every single piece of work I did. I want to leave people with that same childish naivety that has always made me keep trying for something better. I want to inspire people to rise above what the world throws at them.

Petra: What role does art play in your mental health selfcare?

Livonne: Art is the greatest therapy I’ve ever had. Even my mental health care professionals would agree with that statement. Art has helped me face the sides of myself that I haven’t always liked. It’s helped me tell a story that I had avoided telling, even to myself. It has helped me understand who I am and why I do what I do. It has restored memories I thought were gone forever. It has helped me like myself. I don’t know where I’d be without it.