The Skinny on... Iona Lee

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?

My favourite places tend to have something numinous about them. Warriston Cemetery. Dunino Den. The Isle of Iona. Currently, it’s Borthwick’s Close on the Royal Mile. There’s a pigeon couple down there that have built this terrible nest from twigs and bits of broken zip tie, and it's teetering on top of anti-bird spikes. I’m very moved by them and their endurance in the face of such adversity.

Favourite food and why?

Probably my dad’s roast dinner. But it's an impossible question for me. I’m obsessed with food and I have the appetite of a small village.

Favourite colour and why?

I like everything that happens in the realm between green and blue. When I was a child it was yellow. I think that’s because all the other girls in my class liked pink and I was trying to be different.

Who was your hero growing up?

Mark from SMart. RIP.

Whose work inspires you now?

Recently it's been Fiona Apple, the poet Ella Frears, anything by Angela Carter, philosophers like Timothy Morton and Tim Ingold (which is pretentious, but true), something called the Silent Whale Letters, and Blind Boy’s podcast.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?

My friend Pete, who lives in London now and I never see but whose company I adore, a young Rik Mayall, (my all time celebrity crush), and Stanley Tucci. We’d have a laugh, and drink too much. Also I’d make Stanley Tucci do the cooking.

What’s your all time favourite album?

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Demon Days by Gorillaz. I was eight, it was a CD, and I bought it in HMV. I bought it because of Feel Good inc, but then fell totally in love with the whole thing. And I still love that album; its production is so complex, dark and theatrical. My best friend and I used to play it when we were teenagers, getting ready to go out clubbing, and we would sing it at each other: lyrics, instrumental solos, and all.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

Promising Young Woman. It was inherently flawed, completely un-feminist, and I was so fucked off when it won an Oscar. I’d sat down all excited, but there was none of the retributive violence it promised, just impotent finger-wagging; and the only person who dies is, surprise surprise, the female protagonist, in a protracted, gratuitous scene. It had no clue what its tone was, it doesn’t follow through on its own concept, and it undermined its subject matter.

What book would you take to a desert island?

Some sort of big anthology of Scottish folk tales and mythology.

Who’s the worst?

All of my friends’ ex-boyfriends.

When did you last cry?

Yesterday. I cry a lot. I’m pretty much always ready to go.

What are you most scared of?

Losing loved-ones, climate catastrophe, fascism.

When did you last vomit and why?

At Kelburn Garden Party. I’m sure you can probably guess why.

Tell us a secret?

I don’t really have that many secrets, to be honest. I’d love to be more mysterious. How about this: when I was a kid and I was first left alone with a laptop, I started googling some… um… anatomical questions that I had. With no concept of what internet history was or how to cover my tracks, I got caught, and it's the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in my life! Now it's a fun anecdote that my family like to bring up at gatherings.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

Mitch McConnell.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?

I think the life of a well-loved pet cat would be pretty nice. You have more freedom than a dog, but you still get fed and affection. I’d also enjoy the agility. So, either that or something that can fly. I’m always flying in my dreams.

In honour of our Student issue, what do you wish you had known when you were a student?

When I first started at art school, I suffered from a really bad depressive episode. I went nocturnal and struggled to leave my room. It took me a long time to ask for help. I was ambitious and embarrassed and worried that I was letting myself or others down. I felt all this pressure to be having a good time. But when I eventually asked to defer – it was all completely fine. There’s absolutely no rush with these things, and you need to do life at your own pace.

And finally, what would you put in the King’s cup?

God I haven’t played Ring of Fire in a loooong time. Gin makes everything worse, so maybe gin.

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Iona Lee presents... Anamnesis, featuring Selena Godden, Hannah Lavery, Nikki Kent, Leyla Josephine and Colin Bramwell, Summerhall, 28 Sep, 7.30pm, £6
Anamnesis is out now via Polygon