Nhatt Nichols was the 2023–2024 Beyond the Clock Storyteller + Illustrator-in-Residence. In December 2024, Nhatt and DoPT Communications Coordinator Elisa Franco sat down for a reflective interview about Nhatt’s experience with Beyond the Clock, and the next steps in her professional and artistic journey.

About Nhatt:

Nhatt Nichols is a multidisciplinary artist and writer raised on top of a mountain in the Okanogan, Washington State. A graduate of The Royal Drawing School in London, she uses drawing, poetry, and comics to break down political and environmental issues, finding new ways to meet people where they are, and ask them to reach deeper into their ability to care and take action.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN Nhatt Nichols and Elisa Franco:

Elisa:

Nhatt, is there anything you’d like to start with right out of the gate about your experience as the Beyond the Clock Storyteller + Illustrator-in-Residence?

Nhatt:

I started a news outlet this year, and I felt myself moving at a cadence with my life that felt very unsustainable, but one of the things that felt good was slowing and focusing on community building. While I was Beyond the Clock’s storyteller-in-residence, there was a monthly rhythm, I was having big conversations about bigger things at a time when the rest of my life was very geared on rural Jefferson County, Washington, where I live, and being able to take some of these big themes and have some of these really big, slow, thoughtful conversations, while bringing them into my practice as an editor of a local newspaper felt really cohesive.

Elisa:

You mentioned earlier that you lived in London, did you get to study there?

Nhatt:

I grew up here in Washington state. I spent almost all of my late teens and early 20s squatting and traveling in Europe, and then eventually settled as a bike messenger in London, and was there for 10 years. And at the end of the 10 years, I delivered a package to the Royal Drawing School and ended up taking classes there and applying to be in their graduate program. I don't have any other college experience, but I got into their graduate program for drawing even though I'd never really spent much time drawing before, just like I kind of was the right person at the right time and all these, like, kind of crazy ways.

Elisa:

That sounds very happenstance-like. I think those kinds of “happenstance” moments really shape our lives. Thank you for making time to work with us at Beyond the Clock this year, even though this year felt like a delicate balancing act. Was there a point this year where you felt maybe you had to push beyond what you would normally do to capture the story and create the illustrations?

Nhatt:

It's interesting. You know how with all career based things, there's always an element of leveling up? They felt like it was never that much of a push, because I've got everything down to a format in such a way in my life that, at the end of this year, I've realized that that format doesn't work for me anymore. The interview format is very system based, it's not limiting necessarily, but it made me realize at the end of the year what I want to do; I want to be taking other work that I'm doing in a slightly different direction, because I’ve become comfortable at this thing, and I'm like, okay, what's the next level with it?

Elisa:

You've put your 10,000 hours into it, right? You're ready to move on. So what's next in Nhatt Nichols’ world?

Nhatt:

We're going to take Drawing Resilience, the column that I do, and we're going to turn it into something that has a much more personal narrative writing approach. I'm a writer-in-residence at the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and through the next year, I'll be working with a cohort to finish a collection of essays about the nature of humanity and wilderness, and how the two things overlap more than we think they do. I also have a novella coming out in early or late spring 2025. It'll be illustrated also, which is really exciting. I'm trying to take my interview and nonfiction skills and turn them into something a little more personal, and to bring my own voice into things a little more. I like figuring out what creative nonfiction is going to look like for me.

Elisa:

There's something to be said about working in natural rhythms, where the doors, the opportunities, just come up in a way that allows you to flow that energy where it needs to go.

Nhatt:

Totally, I think being open to the energy, but being able to be honest with your abilities is the big thing that a lot of rural culture workers are thinking about. It's amazing when you move into a rural space, because you realize that there's so many possibilities here to do so many cool things. On the flip side of that is you can burn yourself out real quick by trying to do all the cool things.

Elisa:

You've been doing a lot of rural work. Are you taking that experience into your more personal projects moving into the next year?

Nhatt:

I'm trying to come up with a rhythm. I've been thinking a lot about rural spaces. Basically, I've been making a list of topics I want to cover including rural spaces and places that I enjoy working within. I'm hoping to get a bunch of personal essays about the wilderness, and about being a place-based person in publications like High Country News and The Daily Yonder, who I love working for, and establishing a better rhythm in that way.

Elisa:

You know, we're going to miss you next year, our next artist-in-residence will be shifting our reflective format to music, so that'll be very different.

Nhatt:

I'm really stoked that you guys are trying something different. That's going to be a good challenge.

Elisa:

One of my favorite illustrations you made for us was a landscape illustration of Grayson Springs, after Savannah Barrett’s interview.

Nhatt:

That one was fun to do. What has ended up feeling easy, and what has ended up being a successful drawing are not always the same thing. I'm really happy with all of the portraits. I think they all turned out great, which is not always the case. I think the illustrations that were most successful were the ones that were looser.

Elisa:

And now you're transitioning into newer formats, getting away a little bit from interviews and moving into more self expression. I'm interested to see how your art flourishes in 2025, and how the collection of essays come into fruition.

Nhatt:

I'm excited to see what happens in the future!

Elisa:

Where can we learn and share more about your upcoming projects?

Nhatt:

I'm mostly on Instagram. My new novella Burn Morels is coming out in probably April or May 2025. I think what you guys do and what this year has been, have been such important elements of connection. Earlier you brought up the fact that my (wonderful) partner didn't realize there was this world that I'm a part of, a big network of rural culture makers and rural artists, and rural storytellers, he was like, “oh, I didn't know this world existed.”

Elisa:

I think there's some kind of symbolism there with the Rural Network and mycelium structures. We can’t see the majority of mycelium structures. The same way the majority of rural workers are out of sight, the people doing the work behind the scenes - helping the networks exist.

Nhatt:

I'm so glad all these systems, all these places exist, and it's fun to have reflected back. It's been really such a pleasure working with all of you. I'm very happy to hear you've got a cool artist-in-residence coming on next. I'm also very sad that I don't get to just keep doing this forever.

Visit Nhatt via her Instagram and Website!

THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU, NHATT! In deep gratitude to you!

View a collection of Illustrations by Beyond the Clock Storyteller + Illustrator-in-Residence, Nhatt Nichols: