Paula Reyes, artist and writer: “It’s a mistake to talk about art as consumed and time as invested.”

Paula Reyes (Getafe, 29 years old) can't imagine life without art. What she enjoys most is acting, although her love for acting, she says, is not reciprocated. But her four years at the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Madrid were not in vain, because there she met Adriana Ubani, with whom she would later form the group Pipiolas . Through an eclectic sound that mixes variants of pop with house and even techno, they breathe new life into many of Reyes's poems . Their album No hay un Dios and two EPs in three years have helped them gain a foothold in the Spanish indie scene, in addition to collaborating with artists such as Rigoberta Bandini and Kiko Veneno .

Reyes is a songwriter for the band and also writes poetry and fiction. She sometimes combines the latter, as in her book "Joder y Gracias " (Joder y Gracias, Aguilar), where, occasionally using crude sarcasm, she explores the pain of loss, love (and consequently, heartbreak), and, ultimately, all the doubts and traumas that encompass a generation of young people. Although I'm sure more than one boomer has also felt represented.

Question: Has writing been a part of your life?

Answer: Always. Ever since I learned to write, I've been writing. It was my way of communicating with the world and understanding my emotions.

Q. The protagonist of the book, Enriqueta, is very angry that her brother made two spelling mistakes in his suicide note.

A. She concretizes the pain into something seemingly trivial, but it isn't, like the two spelling mistakes, but it's her way of making that abyss more tangible or something she'll be able to talk to because it becomes a little closer to her.

Q. Was it your idea to mix prose and verse?

A. Yes, I suggested it to my editor, and she thought it was super cool. It seemed like an opportunity to reflect on genres, to make them increasingly fluid. I wanted to write poetic prose, even a bit vulgar. Because emotions are vulgar sometimes, or they're not always beautiful. In fact, I think beauty distances us from the truth a bit.

P. You write in the book: “Emotional sedentarism is today a punk act.”

A. Today, it's much more complicated to stay in one place. It requires a lot of management, even more time. Although it may seem strange, it's true. I think it's much more difficult to maintain lifelong relationships than to vary them a little, which isn't better or worse. I simply reflect on the fact that immediacy prevails.

Q. Is it easier to leave than to stay?

A. But because of the context we're in. I'm at the cinema and I think, "Oh, I have to see this movie too." The options are much greater, and the same thing happens with relationships. We think about whether we're really investing well , instead of seeing if the person in front of me interests me and I want to stay or not. We talk about art as something consumed and time as something invested, and that's a mistake for me.

Q. How does this era of immediacy affect you?

A. It's much harder to concentrate. I love literature, but I sometimes had a hard time finishing certain books, but I've learned to read four at a time. I might be 10 pages into one, then suddenly my mind wanders to another, and then I switch.

Q. What inspires you?

A. Above all, the words of other authors, cinema, exhibitions... Right now, I'm deeply connected to director Agnès Varda , thanks in part to Filmin , which has made almost her entire filmography available, and otherwise it would have been difficult to access. Even conversations with my friends are a source of absolute inspiration for me.

Q. Do you hope to make a living from art all your life?

A. I hope so. Art is what I do best, and it's the way I engage with the world and not feel the abyss of existence so much, but simply push it out of my mind. Being in contact with art is a necessity for me. It's going to sound very profound and transcendental, but it makes life manageable for me. Since we're here, and I don't see the underlying meaning of it, at least this is the language I have to understand the world.

Living off art is a somewhat stigmatized phrase. It's used a bit to say you want to live off nothing, off thin air.

Q. What do you enjoy more: writing, singing or acting?

A. Everything. I guess I have more fun as an actress, but even though I love the acting world, I feel like the acting world doesn't love me very much.

Q. You are from Madrid. How do you survive Madrid without hating it?

A. Well, I've lived between Fuenlabrada and Alcorcón. In today's Madrid, we survive by denying it a bit. By judging it a lot and fighting for many things that need to be changed and that make this city increasingly less habitable. I think it's the healthiest thing you can do with Madrid. Call it into question all the time, because I love it very much, and that's why it hurts so much when certain things are done.

Q. On the other hand, what is it about Madrid that's so engaging?

A. It's an incredible city. I love Madrid in August, when there's hardly anyone there. There's something special about it that makes it feel like a somewhat secretive city, when normally it's a fairly bare city.

Q. How do you continue creating art when more than half your salary goes to rent?

R. Or almost my entire salary. Look, I survive thanks to my parents' help, if not completely impossible. I've had five jobs at once, between retail, sales, and artistic work, and even then I haven't been able to make ends meet. I know very few people who can make a living doing just this.

In present-day Madrid, we survive by denying it a little.

Q. Have you had more mundane jobs?

A. Of course, I've been selling underwear for a long time. I think everyone should do some serious front-line work. We'd understand the person in front of us much better. It's been an interesting sociological study, but I left the store in January. I noticed I couldn't take it anymore, my worries were growing, the Pipiolas group was making great strides, and it required a lot of energy and dedication.

Q. Can we expect more books?

A. For me, this hasn't been about publishing once and that's it. I want writing to be my profession too. Plus, I have the privilege of having parents who support me in everything I do, and without that, it's not so easy to venture into making a living from art, which is a somewhat stigmatized phrase. It sounds like you want to make a living off nothing, off thin air.

Q. More than half of the women in the audiovisual industry have experienced some form of sexual violence . How do we stop this?

A. I think the key is not always to focus on women as the source of complaints. The very existence of gender as a woman is a complaint in itself. It's not fair to always expect us to be the ones to speak out.

Q. Is the same true for music?

A. If we need an Equal [a Spotify playlist designed to give women more visibility] to be heard, we're not going to sneak into the top charts, which is really when a man puts us in his car. It's absolutely analogous to when literature was written for women. Just because the voice comes from a woman doesn't mean it's a feminine voice. What happens is that we've read and listened to music made and spoken by men and women, and men haven't. But I don't think it's a proactive thing, but rather an educational one. If I considered it a natural gender issue, the feminist struggle wouldn't make any sense, because then we'd be absolutely writing off men. It's educational, and change has to come from there.

Q. What does a young person have to hold on to today?

A. Well, there are a lot of people who cling to benzodiazepines . I suppose it's very much in your circle of friends these days, which is like that horrible phrase: "The family you choose." But it's true. I suppose you have to find your space to make this hostile place that everything is becoming a little more peaceful.

Q. Are you afraid you'll run out of ideas... or emotions?

A. Well, if emotions run out, we're dead. Inspiration may run out, but ideas never do. It's the last thing anyone can take away from you. And it's something that will always be tied to you. They may be constantly changing, but they'll never stop being a part of you.