5 Creative Questions with… Coco X. Huang

Coco X. Huang is a writer, musician and scientist. When I met Coco, she was winning acclaim not for music, writing or science - but for visual art. She was at Reimagine 2024 where she picked up the Youth Award for her creation, In A Drop of Water (which, I suppose, has a good dash of science in it - in her statement, Coco explains it references bacteria and fungi that can break down plastic).

Quite soon after her Reimagine Art Prize triumph, Coco's name cropped up again - she had back-to-back wins, she had also won the Blake Poetry Prize. "Work hard in silence, let your success be the noise" - this has been attributed to Frank Ocean. With wins stacking up, Coco's success is becoming very loud indeed - all while being young enough to be eligible for a youth art prize (for the record, this puts her in the 18-25 bracket).

Coco X. Huang. Photograph: Wendy Chen

Coco X. Huang is the 33rd in my series of creatives to take five questions.

When my creative process is stuck, I reach for... a musical instrument (practice = productive procrastination).

The weirdest thing about being a creative human is... turning shower thoughts into reality for a living.

The most unusual object in my house is... a corded phone from the late 2000s that still works.

I celebrate my achievements by... telling the cat - he's tough to impress!

Something in the world that already exists that I wish I had created is... the human body. I’m curious what would happen if we had the ability to photosynthesise as a secondary means of obtaining energy. It might mean we’d reduce our food consumption or be able to breathe underwater if we managed to get the cellular respiration/photosynthesis balance right.

Find out more about Coco X. Huang at her website and follow her on Instagram: Coco X. Huang (@cocoxhuang) • Instagram photos and videos. The 68th Blake Prize For Art And Poetry continues at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre until 7 July 2024. Coco performs Three Lessons here.