Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Talbot Hall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Talbot thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?
Absolutely. It’s a terrible feeling, being misunderstood. I think we all want very badly to be seen and recognized for who we are and for the actualization of what we set out to achieve, but very often it doesn’t quite go to plan when it comes to public reception. One of the most valuable things that mentors in my life have poured into me is that what I make will simply not be for everyone. Two brilliant people read a short story that I wrote. One loved it. One simply sent me back an email which said “I don’t get it.” But many people did get it. I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t sting when what I make doesn’t land with someone, particularly someone whose opinion I esteem. And if many people aren’t getting what I’m going for, then I take a second look at it.
That said, sometimes what I make simply won’t be for certain people. It’s a marvelous thing that we all find different things resonate, funny, evocative, and challenging. Our life experience has primed us to all appreciate and understand different things. So being misunderstood or mischaracterized isn’t a reflection on me. I am wholly being myself, and without apology. It also isn’t a negative reflection on the person misunderstanding. It’s simply that their human experience didn’t align with mine in a way that makes my work relevant to them, and that’s alright.
Talbot , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Talbot, and I’m a multi-medium artist. Right now my focus is on writing and directing. I also teach courses at a non-profit on seminal plays, music and movies. I do a lot of things. I’m a curious person by nature and hyper-imaginative, and ever fascinated by the human experience, its variances, and how I might be able to add my own commentary on it into the creative lexicon. I find that I do that best in my writing, specifically for screen and theatre.
This year I was honored as a Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist for my first feature length drama, which is very exciting. I’m also a finalist in consideration for the Sundance Lab. And I have other things cooking about which my lips are sealed!
I just moved to Chicago as well! As I said – my creativity isn’t confined to filmmaking, although writing, directing and casting for film are what I’m trained in. I love Chicago because I also love live art. I’m just as excited by playwriting and directing for theatre as I am for film. I just want to be where the creative, lively weirdos are! Haha.
I suppose I would characterize myself as being a brain-wide-open artist. I don’t like timelines, I don’t like boxes. I like seeing underground improv as much as I enjoy seeing a great movie. I love artists. I’m in no hurry to achieve any kind of notoriety for my writing or directing. It would be wonderful if I do, but for now I’m quite content absorbing all that this wild world has to offer and letting it percolate. I won’t have much to say creatively if I haven’t experienced a lot of life. I think that’s important. The more art and life experience you absorb, the more informed, relevant, interesting, and authentic your output will be.
Practically speaking, drama is where my heart is. I have a literary and theatrical background which beget my deep obsession with words. Impractically speaking, I am a 29 year old woman with a little black cat and a studio apartment who spends her time wandering and wondering and writing when I feel so inclined. Life is a wild thing. Positively incomprehensible. Art makes it slightly more so – comprehensible. And it makes it fun.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
It begins with recognition of where we’ve gone wrong sociologically. It never ceases to amaze me how many people will deride professional artists while sitting in a room with Miles Davis on a turntable, surrounded by paintings, with a movie playing in the background. There is a societal cognitive dissonance between the art we enjoy and the respect that we need to cultivate for the people who make it.
The “starving artist” is a stereotype and a joke that I’d like to see die. I’m not an easily-offended person, but I’ve lived my entire life with a communal narrative preparing me not to make money as an artist, priming me to be laughed off, and often making me wonder if I should quit. It’s a phenomenon that makes me very sad. Art is a cornerstone of our society as human beings. I think we have great difficulty understanding that just because a person is not literally saving a physical life, like a doctor, that they are not of value to society. Reflection on existence is essential to individual self-actualization and societal progress, and we must stop regarding artists as pitiable pipe-dream chasers. Artists are powerful. How many songs, movies, books have made you cry? Laugh until you hurt? Have made you think? Have shifted your perspective?
Art is central to human connection. Artists foster that and build a space for it.
In order to support artists, society must first respect them and understand the essential value that they bring to human existence.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal will always be to foster human connection, tell stories that have both interpersonal value and entertainment value, and reflect upon the experiences, feelings, and thoughts that unite us as people.
If that means that I take a year off and work full-time with people experiencing homelessness, then that’s what I’ll do. Writing comes easily to me when I have something to say, and I easily have something to say when I’ve experienced something new, challenging, or exciting. I accept a very non-linear path. I try to, at least.
Hustle culture isn’t necessarily conducive to that.
Good art, art that stays with people, ties people together, comforts people in times of loneliness – that kind of art takes time to marinate. I believe that in prioritizing myself as a person and experiencing all that I can, I will be able and ready to write and direct when it’s my time. I also think that it enriches my life as a human being, which in turn enhances my ability as a creative.
I think that there’s a kind of developmental and formative period as a writer that happens off the page and in the world, and I likewise believe that it’s a mistake to try to rush through it. Experience the good, the bad, and the weird. Form thoughts about it. Let it register with you emotionally. Feel the pain. Laugh at the absurdity. And then go home and think about it and its effect on you. And, if you feel so inclined, write something down.
My creativity is driven simply by witnessing life on Earth and internalizing those experiences. And if I run out of inspiration I believe that means I’ve stopped paying attention. Because life is wild.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://talbotnhall.com
- Instagram: @talbothall
- Facebook: Talbot Hall
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talbot-hall-a8a26992
Image Credits
Photography by Talbot Hall