Issue 4: Victoria Mathison
“When I was eighteen, I was Isla for four months; for three men; for six dates; for one Japanese restaurant, and one modern Australian restaurant; for five designer clothing stores; and for half a night in a hotel room at the Hyatt.”
~ Sculptures of Birds by Victoria Mathison
Your creative non-fiction piece “Sculptures of Birds” explores the often hidden world of sugardaddies and the double lives of young women exploring their own power and agency. Can you tell us a bit more about your inspiration behind the piece?
The experiences I’ve had that inspired this piece have influenced my life in many ways, and lived in my memories with different emotional charges in turn. I knew I wanted to explore these experiences in a piece of writing at some stage and when the theme of ‘the double’ presented itself it seemed appropriate. In retrospect, these lived experiences defined a very unique period of my life and one where I felt an overwhelming sense of agency through the lack of peer observation. It was also a journey, or a kind of personal mission, that I couldn’t entirely define at the time. So returning to it and interrogating it through writing was also a process of understanding it for myself.
You mentioned that you wanted the piece to have the sense of “a secret overheard or a diary left open.” Is this kind of intimacy, or vulnerability, a common theme in your writing?
I think I fall into writing from this angle of intimacy often, and this piece really leaned into that. This story captures a fiercely independent and private time of my life, when a lot of my decisions were motivated by personal desire and the adolescent high of secrecy. I wanted to convey these tensions and reactions through the play-by-play structure of the piece and narrating the story with candour. To tell this story with integrity to my own experience, it was important to present the duality of idleness and impatience when waiting for something to happen.
Are there any creative projects you’re currently working on?
I’m currently studying two university degrees. So, much of my time is occupied with university but I enjoy journaling and writing short stories with the aspiration of publishing a collection of stories or essays at some stage. I’ve also spent this year co-directing a gallery space in Melbourne, where I’ve been enjoying supporting emerging artists showing their work and assisting in curation.
Who are some writers at the top of your reading list at the moment?
This year I really enjoyed reading all Ottessa Moshfegh’s work and I’m eagerly awaiting her next. The next book on my list is Vivian, by Christina Hesselholdt which explores the life of the late enigmatic photographer Vivian Maier. Another one I’m excited for after reading a short excerpt on Granta a few months ago is Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu.
Victoria Mathison is an emerging writer from Naarm/Melbourne. She currently studies professional writing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and a Bachelor of Arts at La Trobe University.