Chameleon Soul x Greta Bellamacina

Perfect Wasteland

We travelled like we were more than just passengers.

We travelled like we could see the sun and stars.

We travelled like we were wind between the enormousness of the skies and the Utopias of the background air.

I declared myself a bee in my need for the frowning sun with two pairs of wings

and a welcoming tree to call my local nightshade,

in the reliability of greenness rung with empty flags, like the way the moon is the earths shadow.

Skipping past the junkyard,

we barely blink the bric-a-brac’s full elegance-

because we put it there like it had a purpose and a punch line,

cutting the soil like unique distant noor in dazzling motifs making generations and generations.

We travelled like the afterlife was a mosque crossword

in someone else’s version of a rose-bud.

And in the heap we asked, is this just rubbish in air

or just another perfect wasteland.

(Ph: Mara Palena) 

Last time I was in London, I read a couple poems at some hole-in-the-wall reading in the heart of the city. It was there that I crossed paths with multi-talented, poet extraordinaire: Greta Bellamacina. Not only has Greta published words in Vogue, NYLON, Tatler, and Harper's Bazaar, but she has also modeled for Burberry, Tom Ford, and Dolce&Gabbana under VIVA Model Management/was short-listed as the Young Poet Laureate of London in 2013/collaborated in fashion campaigns for All-Saints & Vivienne Westwood/is the current poetry&prose editor for Champ Magazine. 

(Are you questioning what you've been doing with your life yet? I kid, I kid. Kindasortamaybe.)

As a young twenty-something, Miss Bellamacina has certainly racked up a hearty list of accomplishments and the Renaissance woman shows zero signs of stopping. 

What is most impressive about Greta, however, is her ability to pull a genre of writing that is often labeled as "unmarketable" out of its niche and successfully intertwine it with more popular forms of art: fashion, film, photography. Such a feat in this day and age (I mean, do kids even read poems anymore? I feel like they're all on Instagram...) is truly a notable one and it's because of this (in addition to Greta's slew of achievements and her hauntingly beautiful, moon-dipped poetry) that I couldn't resist hitting up the lyrical and poignantly philosophical poet for a Q&A part deux. Scroll down to read this lovely genius's thoughts on poetry, fashion, and music. 

Last time we talked you just created a fashion- poetry film for Harper's Bazaar, what have you been up to since then? 

Where to begin, hmm. One project I made over the summer, which got short-listed at various fashion film festivals, is a Surrealist film I made for CRFashion Book with Natas Pictures.

Here is the teaser version below:

http://www.crfashionbook.com/video/after-dark/

I have been working on my own collection a ‘Devotion To She’ as well as my debut novel.

I also finished editing a collection of poetry entitles ‘Nature’s Jewel’s’ with MACK publishers that launched this year. And in the heart of working on numerous film/documentary projects.

But mainly surviving with my experiments and dreams.

I am very interested in how you've been able to fuse fashion with poetry since they are two of my favorite art forms. Whilst the fashion world has been welcoming creative writing (Vivienne Westwood with poetry and Prada with prose) it seems that poetry still isn't used ubiquitously in fashion or is still featured separately from fashion in magazines/blogs/etc. Do you have any ideas on how to make poetry more relevant to fashion? 

I think art creates culture whether it is poetry, fashion, or music. It can educate and  influence  people  from all  arrays  of  life and that is invaluable regardless. Vivienne Westwood often refers to Matthew Arnold’s view on culture and art: creating one's ‘best self'. So with this in mind- I think there are endless possibilities.

Do you think there is any way to fuse poetry with journalistic forms of writing? 

Interesting, I was talking about this the other day. I think if you can write something topical, which responds to the time, then indeed I think it can offer a journalistic narrative and be quite informative. 

You wear many hats: writer, poet, model, to name a few. Do you identify with each label separately or do you wear all the hats at once? If so, how do you manage to model and write? Do they feed off each other?

I think the misconception of generations is to label people with labels. I think we are all complex strangers who are always adapting. So in answer to the question I think all roles seem to be interplaying at once and indeed feed off each other regardless of names.  

Since you started off as a model, was it hard to get people to see you as also a poet? 

I don’t really know- I just try and focus on what I am creating at that moment. I think if you have conviction in what you are trying to create regardless of the role, people will join in and become a part of it.

I think also because the nature of fashion is married to some kind of statement- it seems almost normal to be an author within it.

Favorite person you've worked with recently? 

I very much enjoyed an impromptu poetry reading at a bus stop in Hackney with artist and poet Zimon Drake and friend James D Kelly a few weeks ago.

Also I made a poetry film vignette with director Paul Franco in Paris last month- most of it was shot in the suburbs or Paris with a horse to represent the surrealism of place.

http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2014/10/paris/

Opinion on poetry readings? 

I think they are quite an organic way to self edit your work.  But also a spiritual approach to connecting to someone’s soul through the writer's voice.

Upcoming projects? 

I am currently editing a contemporary British collection of Love poetry, which will be launched on Valentine's Day next year. I am determined to feature the language and poets of our time and feature all the different versions of love.

I am also working on a few exciting film/documentary projects.

Do you listen to music when you write? If so what's your favorite song/album you listen to?

Bands like Rowland S Howard, The Waterboys, Joy Division

Any last comments?  

Time to go outside.