Reason #2 / Mark Seymour / Songwriter
‘Who am I…?’
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Mark Seymour / Songwriter
For me, Mark Seymour is an enigma.
Songwriter, vocalist and former frontman of Aussie rock band Hunters & Collectors, I’ve been observing Mark through my viewfinder for two decades. I’ve always preferred photographing Mark in his private domaine - backstage, capturing him in moments of reflection, rather than his on-stage persona. He doesn't give much away to an outsider, myself included. But, I’ve come to notice that there is always a lot going on in his head.
I asked Mark if he could write his own Reason for Being essay? He kindly accepted. In his own words, I finally catch a glimpse of what he’s actually thinking.
These photographs of Mark were captured in 2016 during a live audience recording of his album Roll Back The Stones: 1985-2016 at Bakehouse Studios in Richmond. This is the first time these images have been published.
‘All artistic expression is an unresolved search for identity through the constant repetition of the original question: Who am I?’
- Mark Seymour
Words by Mark Seymour.
A journalist recently asked me, ‘Do you still believe you have something to prove?’
There was a time when I would’ve reacted badly to this...believing that creativity was meant to be above such venal concerns as ego or reputation...
But the longer I’ve kept working, the more I’ve gradually come to accept a deeper truth.
The creative act isn’t ‘above’ anything. Of course, it’s venal, ego-driven, self-interested...
But it is also an invitation to be loved, and in the very asking, artists make targets of themselves, deliberately.
It is the essential vulnerability of the act that gives it its intrinsic worth...
Art of all kinds is simply a declaration of humanity, with all the weakness and courage that entails.
So, of course, ‘I’ve always believed I had something to prove’, and I make no apologies for that.
Art that purports to be greater than the self, to be ‘noble’... or ‘worthy’ is untrue. Because it pretends to deny its underlying character.
Songwriting itself has always been a cry in the wilderness. Before politics, worship, advocacy, desire, or any other handle you might like to dress it up in...
Before all these so-called ‘themes’, there was always solitude and loneliness.
All artistic expression is an unresolved search for identity through the constant repetition of the original question:
‘Who am I?’
Songwriting ‘feels’ no different to me now than the first time I ever attempted it.
The techniques may have changed. The skill, the subject matter…but the impulse has always been the same...
From the very first, there was something deeply personal at stake. A crisis, a fundamental question of self-worth and the creative act was an attempt to solve it, a way through, a cure.
Whether it be your state of mind, your emotional life, relationship with parents, lover, children, your fundamental condition, in fact, all these conversations are forever trapped in the dilemma of the work of itself.
As artists, we choose to live inside this dilemma because it gives us limitless freedom. Knowing we can continue to embark on the journey and never arrive anywhere...
Artistic self-expression is always unresolved. I may say a song is ‘about’ something, and of course, this is critically important. We send messages inside a social framework that must be acknowledged, but there is always an initial ‘sting’ that has nothing to do with the exterior world...
A tipping point, a trigger. Some sign or comment that sets the mind to work. An ‘impulse’ that lies deep within the heart...
Songs have no finite definition. Interpretation lies beyond the power of the artist, and that is as it should be.
The whole idea that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ is an absolute truth. As artists, we should gracefully accept it.
Not knowing the outcome gives the creative act its mystique and wonder...
I’ve tried to trace my journey back to the first event. Why it happened when it did and the question I was asking...
Each new gesture is a repetition of this original impulse.
Look for the original why... the first question.
‘What is my purpose?’