Charlotte Colbert: On Identity, Imagination, and the Mediums Between

We meet the film director, artist and eternal chameleon Charlotte Colbert who is known as much for her surrealist vision as her world building and wild energy. From Madison Square NYC to the Grand Canal in Venice, her monumental public sculptures blur the line between reality and fantasy. Here, she reflects on mentors, muses, and the power of art.

Your world shifts between mediums and moods… film, sculpture, fashion. How do these translate into your truest form of self expression?

It is a bug, you're right! Like a bad cough.

What was the first piece you made that spoke to your unique design language? Take us from the impulse to execution.

All mediums I work within are connected to my fascination with story and narratives; the realities and fictions that define us and make us who we are.

It’s curtain close on opening night. Your favourite London bolthole for a late night toast?

I love old, carpet stained, greasy countered pubs. Generally with an order of cider and marmite twiglets.

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Every artist gets creatively stuck. What breaks the spell, a person, place or practice?

Persistence.

A film you return to again and again for inspiration?

I love so many… Don't look Now, Louis Malles' Ascenseur pour L'échafaud, I Know Where I'm Going…

Name something you are most proud of. And what are you most excited to bring into the world next.

I'm very proud when I manage to get around to washing my hair. Next, Supernatural Tendencies opens at Fitzrovia Chapel in London on June 30th - come!