AA And that's helpful. What did you enjoy most about Paris – the people, the city, the food, the culture?
JC I enjoyed catching up with a lot of blackfellas while I was there in Paris, because I think I caught up with about nine blackfellas – it was a blackout. I caught up with blackfellas that I didn't even know, but, you know, my cousin knew was going to be there. So it was quite amazing for me to kind of feel so at home in a foreign place – we were all passing through for one reason or another, there's some people that live there. So it was really lovely to still feel part of the community even when I was there.
But in terms of Paris itself there's just a lot of awe and wonder. And I did explain it to some people over there. Like I said, when I go into the churches or the museums, just the scale of everything, it can really take your breath away. But in Australia when I'm out on Country, in those natural surrounds, that's where I would feel a sense of awe and wonder. There was a lot of grandiose and magnificence that you could really appreciate because we don't have that here, but that feeling of just being in awe – Well, we do have that here – but it's not because of the buildings. It's because of Country.
AA How does it feel to have participated in the residency?
JC It all went so smoothly. There's so many things about life that I think a lot of people have shared understandings that today is all you have control over. The cookie will crumble the way it crumbles. For me, residency life was really living that and really just being open to each day and seeing where it takes you. And I really value that because it's so easy to live in autopilot or to be serving someone else's agenda.
But to be able to just open up time, just to serve a greater purpose of storytelling and be open to however that comes to you is. Such a special experience to have and to know that's what you've been part of.
AA If a friend or a peer considered applying for the residency, what advice would you give them?
JC Don't doubt yourself. I think what is good about the residency is that it can be whatever you can make of it. And it's open to people, whether you see yourself as an artist or a cultural practitioner – however you put yourself together, it's open to you.
I would encourage people not to be limited in thinking. When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh, it looks like a good thing’, but I didn't think it would apply to me. But then when I looked at it, I thought, ‘Oh, actually, there's no reason why it wouldn't’. And so just be really open minded about what you could do with the experience and what you could bring to it. And don't get too caught up on the labels.
