Portrait en Rouje: Ayak Chout
Ayak Chout is a mixed-media visual artist based in Wellington, New Zealand. She moves through photography, jewelry making and design and has been making art since she was a teenager.
With fourteen hours of time difference, I meet Ayak on Zoom on a week morning for me while she is already wrapping up the day in the evening in Wellington. Ayak and I talked about the evolution of making, as well as the impact of family and community on her practice. We also exchanged on our shared transnationality and the impact of nature and traveling on artistic minds. An insightful portrait of an upcoming maker, in the middle of navigating 2020 and post-covid lockdown times.
Photography by Zarina Ahmed for Speciwomen
Philo Cohen for Speciwomen: I want to start off talking about this practice that you have that is quite hybrid. I wonder about how you constructed these sorts of pockets of practices in artmaking?
Ayak Chout: I did that my whole entire school life, if we ever had art classes I was very interested in them. We’d do painting, we’d do clay making, we’d do photo making, so we did quite a lot of different things. There were certain things that I felt really moved by that were years ago in my earlier school life, and now I find myself being drawn back to those things. I remember doing claymaking and I really enjoyed that, and so I picked that up and I started learning on my own. And I’d think, ‘I really liked doing photography in high school, I want to get back into taking photos’, so I think that is what it's been like for me. Things that when I was growing up were very soothing for me to do, I found myself really passionate about again.
PC: You said you started making when you were in high school. As a child, were you in the arts at all?
AC: I think I just started making when I was a teenager. I didn’t go to an art school or anything like that. It was whatever we started learning in school, we’d get an introduction to certain art projects and I’d take that on and take it home and continue to do it. I think that was what it’s like for me.
PC: Where do you work now?
AC: A lot of the time I just work at home. I find that the most comfortable for me. I know a lot of people who don’t like to bring their work home and that their home is a sort of relaxation place. But for me, I work as a form of relaxation, so I never feel like I have to go somewhere else to do it. I do it all at home, and I enjoy that.
PC: Are there other places in Wellington that you’ve been to that bring the same stimulation to you, and allow you to make as well as when you’re at home?
AC: There aren't any studio places in Wellington that I go to because there aren't many at all. I think for a lot of people they are forced to work at home. A lot of creative people in Wellington don’t have places to go to. But, I think my parents' home is somewhere else I love to make things. But as far as studio spaces, not really.
PC: We were talking about quarantine, the lockdown, and the pandemic, and how a lot of people had to redirect their practices to their home. I feel like it's impossible to have a conversation today without mentioning what’s been happening this past year. How did it affect you? If at all?
AC: I’m a bit of a homebody, so in terms of socializing it didn’t really affect me much. But, as soon as lockdown in New Zealand was announced I actually went to my local art store and bought a whole bunch of art things. I was like, if we’re going to be spending this time in lockdown then this is what’s going to keep me sane, grounded, and at peace. So I remember being like, I need these art supplies because I want to be creating things in this time. I think that it didn’t necessarily have a negative effect on my practice because it gave me time to explore what I enjoy doing more. I definitely got into clayamking a lot more during the lockdown period, and because I was already working from home, the actual lockdown didn’t affect me too much.
PC: In terms of other places outside of your house, like museums, or parks, or the theater, that have been judged to be non-essential in the past few months, how has that been a change for you? Did you draw inspiration from going to museums or shows?
AC: Yeah, I definitely miss things like art galleries. I really loved going to the city gallery. When I go and see other peoples artwork, even if it’s really different from the things I’m creating, it always makes me feel inspired. It's really beautiful to see the things that other people create, so I miss that. Also, just being able to freely walk around, because I get quite inspired by florals, for example. Going to gardens and even to plant shops, I really miss that. But there weren't too many things that I feel like I’ve missed out on. Maybe roadtripping? I always really loved going on roadtrips. My partner and I would always go on roadtrips. I would take lots of photos of the landscape and that would also inspire my clay work, and so not being able to actually travel affected my work.
PC: Yeah, that’s big. Especially with photography, to talk about that a little more, the light changes so much and it’s such a different practice based on where you are in the world. You said you were roadtripping a bunch, have these travels affected what you make?
AC: I’d always like to visit art places anytime we went away. Seeing different statues and stuff was really interesting, and that also informed my work. Also, getting to visit different art galleries where they’d always have local work from local artists. Seeing the work that people are making in these spaces was very different from what people in Wellington are making. I was always really interested to see how different people’s landscapes inspired their work, and then looking at my own work and how my landscape inspires what I’m doing. I think traveling inspired me in that way. Also seeing a different part of New Zealand, places that are more grounded in their indigenous roots is very inspiring. Things like that all connect back to what I was making and I think that was why I missed traveling and road tripping so much. That really informed my work, and when I wasn’t able to do it anymore I realised I actually drew a lot of inspiration from those trips.
PC: I wonder if you had an encounter or someone in your life, that really sort of gave you advice or guided you in a way that made you realise you could be an artist?
AC: I feel like I haven't really encountered anyone or had that moment. I think I made that decision for myself. Especially with my cultural background, I’m South Sudanese, and generally people don't become artists, or making artwork for a career is not often seen as a valid thing. Often you become an engineer or you become a doctor, or you do something like that that’s usually seen to be a more valid form of work. For me it was more that I made the decision that I really love artwork, I really love learning different skills, and picking up on different practices. I am an artist, I'm going to do it. Which I think is quite good that I was able to make the decision for myself without having anyone around that sort of supported that.
PC: That’s impressive. Is your family in the arts at all? Were they supportive of you?
AC: It’s weird cause my parents are really good artists? Like drawing, and my mom’s really great at like embroidery, and were both really good at like very artsy-craftsy things but they would never have considered themselves as artists. They're just things that they do. Which is something I think is quite interesting, because for me I was labeling myself as an artist because they didn’t necessarily do so. In terms of photography, my dad especially loves photos. Our whole entire time growing up he’d alway be like, ‘you guys need to take photos of everything, because me and your mom never had that. We don’t have anything to look back on’. My love of photography also came from that and was very much informed by him and his love of photos. Even when we were growing up in Kenya, we didn’t always have much money but I remember my parents would put aside money for us to go to a photographer and get family portraits taken. In that sense they weren’t outwardly against art, or me becoming an artist, but they weren’t necessarily supportive of it either. But seeing the way that they lived and the fact that they did artsy things, and the fact that they loved photographs, I don’t think that they need to tell me that they’re okay with it because I know that they love art even though you’re not able to express it in the same ways that I am.
PC: When did you guys come to New Zealand?
AC: Like fifteen years ago now? I was about seven when we moved here and I’m turning twenty-two now.
PC: Do you think about this short upbringing in Kenya?
AC: Yes, I think about it in ways. Even though I spent most of my formative years in New Zealand, my parents always tried really hard to sort of make sure that we didn’t forget our Sudanese heritage. I think I am still quite inspired from my time in Kenya, but not in a super direct way. I only remember bits and pieces about being there, but what I do remember is very distinctive and so I do still draw from it but it feels very otherworldly compared to my time in New Zealand now. If I think about it I wonder, am I really taking that much from my time in Kenya? I always wonder how much I’m influenced by that time.
PC: Those years are so rooted in your subconscious and your memories are probably like vivid sensory memories. So maybe it's translated in a more sort of subtle way. As someone who is also transnational and who moved pretty young, people always associate me with France. But I moved so young! I don’t really feel like it's me as much as the place where you have your most formative years.
AC: It’s funny because even though I grew up in Kenya, I feel most connected to South Sudan which I’ve never been to before. My family lived in Kenya and then moved to New Zealand, but I feel so connected to my South Sudanese heritage. When my parents were back home, they‘d come back with lots of family photos and I feel like I’ve taken from those and the images that they take when they go away. So it’s interesting that I’ve never been there but I feel like my work is very very much informed by it.
PC: Will you go? Do you plan on going?
AC: I really really want to go, my mom was planning on going next year actually but now obviously traveling is not really much of a thing. I really wanted to go with her cause obviously I’ve never been and I really want to visit, and hopefully at some point I can!
This interview was conducted as part of Speciwomen’s partnership with Rouje.