Projects
CT Pocket
MAN-MADE
Publishing
Film as a Subversive Art
Hijack Reality
Home Sweet Home
Monologues
New Math
Q&A
The Moon
What’s Next?
Talks & events
Dispense and Connect
Inside the Industry
Memories Last Longer
than Things
Print Matters
Victorious Hermit
Pedagogy
What does it mean to be
ANTI-FRAGILE for GEN Z?
The Antifragile Classroom
Pleasure Activism and What
Can a Body Do?
The Long Table
Collective Joy in the
Classroom
ICA x Softlaunch:
Radical Play
About
Contact
Q&A
Lucy Kumara Moore
[2021]
Who are you and what do you do for a living?
Lucy Kumara Moore. My CV is quite multifaceted, but I think what
I am always doing is responding to and reflecting upon contemporary
culture. At the centre of my writing, curating and publishing work is
my bookshop, Claire de Rouen.
Do you trust yourself?
Yes, I do now. Since becoming a mother last year,
it has been essential.
What have you done since you woke up this morning?
Breast feeding, water, coffee, SSRI pill, breakfast, outdoor swimming,
clearing up after the night before, stuck in a traffic jam, painting,
laundry, cooking with one hand, laughing, bathing my son and putting
him to bed, listening to an interview with a painter and an avant-
garde jazz radio show, endless snacking and tea.
Please list the contents of your fridge
Yoghurt, vegetables, milk and wine, miso, mustard, numerous packs
of butter, raspberries and blueberries, ravioli, steak, hummous,
blueberry juice.
What is your earliest memory?
Eating outside in a large group, all of us sitting on the ground,
the unbroken earth, in Indonesia, with my hands, as a two-year old.
Please describe the place you are currently in,
or the view from your window?
At my kitchen table, late at night. The table is new and very beautiful.
What do you like the look of?
The future.
Were you a popular child?
No, I was shy and sensitive.
What sustains you?
I think the fact that each day offers an invitation to begin again.
Do you scare easy?
Yes!
Who was the first cultural figure to influence you?
I think Yves Klein was a major force. I saw his exhibition at
the Hayward Gallery when I was 14.
Where is love for you?
Within oneself.
Are you lucky?
Yes, very lucky to have what I have in life, although I never win
the lottery or anything like that!
What is the most magical, psychically charged item
of clothing you own?
A 19th century necklace made by an Italian jeweller called Carlo
Giuliano. He made many beautiful things for the Pre-Raphaelites.
He explored Neo-Renaissance and ‘archeological’ styles.
Where do you place your faith?
In compassion and equivalence.
What two colours should never be seen?
The colour of nuclear fallout, the colour of poison.
What one thing would improve the quality of your existence?
A calmer mind.
What is your number one priority?
My son.
Why do you do what you do?
It connects me to people and brings them pleasure and
creative sustenance.
What is your most marked characteristic?
What traits are you most grateful for? Share a defect?
I suppose I’m a workaholic. I think this is a defect. I’m most
grateful for my capacity to inspire others. And that I can
make a good painting.
What would you like to be better at?
Tennis.
What is your favourite smell?
Gorse flowers.
What is sexy?
Jordan Pickford.
What is your favourite sound?
My son’s laughter.
What are you reading?
Second Place by Rachel Cusk.
In a parallel universe, what are you doing right now?
Writing a PhD on feminism and time.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
The feeling you have when you’ve hurt someone.
What do you regard as your greatest achievement?
Making my family happy (when I do).
Do you collect anything? If so what?
Books, books, books.
Which work of art do you most covet for your home?
A small vintage print made in Chelsea Reach nightclub by the
photographer Tom Wood. But if it really could be anything,
it would be Bernini’s sculpture of Apollo and Daphne.
Where do you find most pleasure?
Sleeping next to my son.
What’s your favourite public place in London?
The Ladies pond on Hampstead Heath.
What is humanity’s biggest failing?
Violence.
Which 6–12 tracks offer you most pleasure right now?
Any of the tracks on NTS’s radio show, Raga Vibrations,
a monthly selection of Indian music curated by Jefre
Cantu-Ledesma and Greg Davis.
If you were to ask any two questions of any two people,
what would they be and whom would you ask?
Can you teach me all you know about painting? John Currin
What do you want to tell me? My older self.