Three Polaroids by Mikael Kennedy
is tall and thin, with blond eyelashes and a few tattoos that are visible beneath his worn chambray shirt. He looks like a handsomer version of novelist
Jonathan Ames, but his calm demeanor is the polar opposite of Ames’ turbulent anxiety. I met him at the
Joint pop-upover the weekend, but only after I’d decided that his triptych of Polaroids in rustic wooden frames were my favorite pieces in the exhibit. Kennedy is currently based in Brooklyn, but he spoke of Nashville with such fascination that I have a strong feeling he’ll plan to come back soon. We corresponded over a few emails recently, and you can read that exchange below.
Country Life: So why are you so in love with Nashville? Had you had any preconceived notions about what it would be like here?
Mikael Kennedy: You know, I don't really often think that much about a place before I go there, I have a bad habit of doing zero research and just showing up. It's how I ended up in Serbia one summer in 2005, I didn't really even have any idea on a map where I was I just got off the plane and started wandering around. I'd rolled through Nashville a few times in the past, either when I was roaming the country by myself or on tour with a friend's band, but the last time was probably seven or more years ago.
A lot's changed here, and it's been great to stick around for a week [after the Joint pop-up last weekend] and just settle in. Nashville feels really welcoming and supportive, but at the same time feels like a place where you can actually get things done, which i don't always feel like is the case in other cities with such a laid-back feeling. Coming here for the Joint exhibit was exciting also because my girl, Melaena Cadiz, is a folk singer up in NYC and she's never been through here before (she also has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop country songs that are out right now). It was really great to be able to have her see Nashville from a musician's perspective.
