At the end of June the Eleventh International Melville Conference took place at King’s College in London.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to talk about my work at the British Library as part of this event. A range of artists including writer Philip Hoare, film maker David Shaerf, curator Michael Hall and actor/director Shelley Piasecka talked about and showed how Melville had influenced their work.  

Caroline Hack, 2nd left, on the panel at Looking for Melville at the British Library

I focused on my recently completed work Cetology based on Melville’s classification of whales by book sizes. It was a wonderful opportunity to share my work with an audience who would understand the context of my practice and appreciate the nuances without explanation.  But it was also a chance to meet some of my Melville heroes. Kind people who have supported my endeavours and authors of books that have been important sources of inspiration and knowledge.  It was also great to meet newer twitter contacts and put faces to now familiar names as well as getting to see the work of other people for whom Melville has been a significant influence.  

Looking back on what was one of my most memorable afternoons of my creative life I know that the ripples from it will continue spread, contacts made strengthened and new opportunities for collaborations, new works and travel will arise.