Women* Now Artist Interview: Fleassy Malay
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your art practice.
Art has always been a place of regulation for me. I look back upon my life and see my non-stop drawing, writing, and journaling (from my youngest years) as a life long practice that not only built up my skills but actually helped me make sense of myself and the world around me. It helped me understand big feelings, and express big concepts. I'm now in my late 30's and am lucky to be a professional artist, still finding ways to tell the story of myself through words, images, and song. My main profession is through writing and performance as a Spoken Word artist, but I am also an illustrator and have a love of designing jewellery and wearable art. I'm a sassy, dorky, queer, gender fluid, neurodivergent, mother with a deep feminist streak. All of these things play heavily into my art and influence what I write and create and who I want to invest in and support with my skills.
What do you hope people get from your art? How would you like your art to be received?
As a performer I often say that I want my audiences to leave wet at both ends haha. It's a funny quip on stage but to be honest, it comes from a place of real truth. My poetry is often deep and emotional and speaks to things I don't feel I see get spoken about enough. It affirms parts of my identity that others can relate to, be that my gender, my sexuality, my survival, my struggles with mental health and my journey into parenthood. I also perceive myself to be very body and sex positive, I talk openly and clearly about my struggles with self-image and the imprint a patriarchal and misogynistic world has left on it... but I also celebrate sensuality shamelessly. I write and draw about bodies and sex, and pleasure a lot. My hope is that people get a sense of connection from my art... that it helps them feel seen. I hope that they might walk away crying, laughing, and slightly aroused.
How did you get into spoken word poetry?
I was born and raised in Greater London by a horse-riding-motorbike racing-hairdressing mother and a storytelling-jeweller-fisherman father. This built a rather eclectic experience of childhood. I grew up to have a passion for activism, art, people and I also loved the stage; dreaming of being a movie star. However, I was also bullied a lot, and my mental health wasn't great. I eventually went to stage school but I still felt out of place, I ostracised myself a lot. I didn't quite know where to belong in an industry that I found inauthentic and very focused on comparison and competition. At 19 in an open mic at a backpackers hostel in British Columbia, Canada, I discovered Spoken Word and something fell into place for me... it was a way to be on stage and perform and yet to speak and be myself in all my truth of the moment. I would be both the activist and the artist and the over sensitive little being I was becoming to know of myself. I was hooked, I began writing and was on stage and competing in slams almost instantly. Throughout my life it became a home for me, a way to be in a world that didn't seem to embrace me, it was a way to embrace myself.
Can you tell us a little bit about how Mother Tongue came about and how people can get involved?
Mother Tongue came from a need I had to feel like women weren't out to compete with me. I arrived in Australia in 2012 and quickly found myself alone, broken-hearted, with no money, in a country where I had no backup or support. I needed something, and what I had that was consistent, was poetry. I wanted a space where I could connect with women without feeling like we were in competition or comparing against each other (which was how society had raised me to interact with women)...where we were listening and being heard. So, along with a local friend I organised a one-off event. I expected maybe 11 people to come, that night 75 people flooded into this tiny obscure venue in the Melbourne CBD and Mother Tongue was born. I continued to run monthly events because it just felt right and we continued to get an average of 60 to 70 people attending. Now, 11 years later, we are an incorporated Not For Profit committed to amplifying and equipping the voices of women and gender diverse people who also identify with the word "woman".
During COVID we went online and created a stunning digital community, and now we run all our events hybrid. Each event has one paid feature performer and an open mic for 8 people who identify as women. We also collaborate and partner with other events and organisations and bring diverse women's voices to their spaces whilst also supporting their own communities to use their voices more.
If people want to get involved we are currently running our general events once every other month from Feb to Dec, we are always interested in hearing from people who want to volunteer or organisations who would love to collaborate or partner.
I absolutely love your earrings, especially the ‘moist’ ones! How do you find time to pursue so many different creative avenues?
Thank you! I love the word Moist haha. I think it is less about finding time (as I never have enough time) and more about fulfilling a need in myself. When I stop creating and expressing myself creatively my soul begins to dry out... like a depressed raisin. I lose my zest...but beyond that, I lose myself. I stop being able to communicate with my kid from a place that feels honest and caring, and I stop feeling complete. My neurodivergent need for novelty spurs me to express myself creatively in as many ways as I can, be that through jewellery design, spoken word, articles, fashion design, graphic design, music, crochet, or making tiny wooden peg dolls for my kids school.
Your podcast ‘Fierce and Gentle’ is all about reclaiming ‘voice, courage and power through poetry and conversation’. What prompted you to start a podcast?
It is all part of my exploration I think. We were in lockdown and I wanted to find a new format to explore, to discuss, and to share my poetry. As a project it is on a hiatus at the moment, waiting for the next wave of inspiration to hit.
If you had endless hours to pursue all your creative passions, what would be next on your list?
Oh don't tease me! I would love to work more with my band, and with more musicians. This year we did a Fringe show in Melbourne called Fierce-Gentle. It was spoken word and singing with live double bass, clarinet and guitar. I really enjoyed that, and would love to have the space to explore further. Outside of my spoken word, I have been craving to delve into process based visual arts practice. I would love a studio space (I live in a tiny 2 bed apartment with my partner, kid, and cat) and some time and money to create without the pressure of PRESENTING that work or selling it to make money. I want to explore the overlap of spoken word, writing, visual art, and experience.
What advice do you have for feminists wanting to create in a space that can, at times, be quite divisive?
This is a great question. For me a massive part of my own learning has been listening to others' lived experiences. Mother Tongue has given me a stunning opportunity to hear very diverse and very honest stories for thousands of women over the years. There is no space for argument at Mother Tongue, only for sharing and listening. I am forced into a receptive place. Every time that happens I grow, I learn, and I understand a little better. Despite my fierce and sassy front, I'm an incredibly sensitive person and I cherish kindness and gentleness massively. My advice would be to listen more. Listen with intrigue, and curiosity. Listen to grow, not to form an argument. Also to remember that often the people we find ourselves fighting against are often actually up against the same enemy as us, that our passion is best aimed towards a system that silences and marginalises so many not towards others who are also up against that same battle. As I say in my poem Witches, "We are stronger when we cast our spells together".
Check out Fleassy’s wearable art available at QVWC SHOP
https://shop.qvwc.org.au/collections/fleassy-malay
Interview Freya Bennett, Photographs Breeana Dunbar