Meg Washington: ‘Why make art at all? What’s the point? Sometimes I feel like the violinist on the Titanic’

Musician Meg Washington, pictured in Sydney. Her upcoming album Gem is her first original album as an independent artist. Stylist: Peter Simon Phillips. Makeup: Chloe Turner. Hair: Nathen Di Natale. Set Design: Ben Fountain. Props: Melinda Cluer. Photo Assistant: Ima Caldwell.Portraits of musician Meg Washington in Sydney, New South Wales. Stylist: Peter Simon Phillips. Makeup: Chloe Turner. Hair: Nathen Di Natale. Set Design: Ben Fountain. Props: Melinda Cluer. Photo Assistant: Ima Caldwell. Jacket: KOURH Shoe: Christian Louboutin Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

Once, in a major label meeting, Meg Washington was given a directive: show us your face.

“They tell you when they sign you that you have to put your face on your album cover and your eyes need to be open, because that statistically sells the most records,” she says matter-of-factly. “You know how posts with sunsets get more likes, or whatever? It’s just some Gladwellian reality that if humans can see the eyeballs, they subconsciously connect more.”