Life lessons from Miranda July

Bad art, procrastination and dull days can be good things. Filmmaker, artist and writer Miranda July discusses how to navigate the discomfort of being creative.
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Image credit: Todd Cole

As a child, Miranda July wrote a trilogy about leaving home and exploring the unknown. Fast forward more than three decades and the filmmaker, artist and writer continues to traverse the unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

‘Either I haven’t progressed at all, or this theme is so basic that it is hard to avoid at any age in any medium – the theme is really leaving the safety of your home and going into darkness and surviving. Basically surviving discomfort.’

But what discomfort is there in being an awarded filmmaker and bestselling author? When an artist is heralded as being a success, often that’s all we are privy to – the awards, accolades, and the seeming effortlessness of it all.

In Lost Child presented by The Wheeler Centre in partnership with ACMI, July revealed her inner world and the origins of her creative work to shed light on exactly what exploring the dark involves and lessons for us all.

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Madeleine Dore
About the Author
Madeleine Dore is a freelance writer and founder of Extraordinary Routines, an interview project exploring the intersection between creativity and imperfection. She is the previous Deputy Editor at ArtsHub. Follow her on Twitter at @RoutineCurator