Noah: Could you summarise your journey into curating?
Lewis: I’m definitely still on the journey, and I think I’ll always be on the journey. That’s one of the things I love not only about my career but also this industry - that you’re constantly learning. I didn’t study curation, I studied fine art and quickly realised I didn’t want to be an artist but that I enjoyed working with artists, being around artists to hear their stories, to understand why they make work and what their interest are. Then I started working in a gallery after university to get the lay of the land and an understanding of what’s out there.
Even linking back into one of the workshops we put together for this project, I think it’s really important for people to get an understanding of what careers are in the creative field, and we need to get better at demystifying those things. I worked in galleries for a few years and worked with curators for a while, but didn’t necessarily think I was going to go into it. Then my first proper experience of curation was when I was put forward for a job at a gallery and put together a programme for them as part of the interview process. I did that because I wanted to show them my full process and make sure we were aligned. I then got the job. That was my first introduction to it.
My advice for people who want to get into curation is to write down the ideas that you have, as you’re effectively curating already. I know everyone doesn’t have the means to do lots of jazzy things, but even just getting images off the internet and starting, writing your own press release for a show, thinking up titles for an exhibition. Once you’ve set out these ideas you can keep on adding to them, which is something I still do now. As I said, you’re constantly learning, evolving, practicing how to make links between things.