GUERRILLA POETS - NAMED!
August 5th 2010 16:04
Link: www.poetsunion.com
What does a Billy Blue graphic design student (Alex Long), a performance artist from Newcastle (Tom Keily), and a 50 year-old visual artist/journalist (Jo Tracy) all have in common? They are all winners of the Guerrilla Poetry Project, part of the seventh annual Australian Poetry Festival that takes place September 3-4.
Today Jess Cook, the organisation’s founder together with Brook Emery, chairperson for the Poets Union and director of the Australian Poetry Festival; named the 10 winning poets. Their words will strike Sydneysiders at the heart of the city when the least expect it, later in August.
The winning poets include Christian Brimmo (Glebe, NSW); Alex Long (Surry Hills, NSW); Edgar J. Hooves (Surry Hills, NSW); Ray Liversidge (Greensborough, VIC); Thomas Keily (Newcastle, NSW); Jo Tracy (Redfern, NSW); Matt Kruzmetra (Birchgrove NSW); Immanuel Suttner (Vaucluse, NSW); Vanessa Meager and Olivia Nigro (Marrickville, NSW); and Maia Dal Berger (Waterloo, NSW).
Over one hundred artists across the country entered, including a word artist being detained at Villawood Detention Centre, Beverly an 80 year old woman from Melbourne, and a host of graphic designers, poets, illustrators, zine artists, and Maia - one of the winners - who entered her first-ever poem.
The poetry gang gathered at the movement’s psychogeographic home-base, Stanley Street Station, which was decked out with 400 colourful gorillas. The assembled guerrilla’s celebrated with slam poetry from Australian Poetry Festival street poets Candy Royalle; who quoted street poet Tom Keily aka Thomas Jack of Hearts’ winning bubble, “if I whisper sedition it’s this: listen. You are gorgeous, gorgeous already”. Tom Keily himself fresh from touring “Can You Draw Me a Map Bro”, told the story of a brave soldier’s life at war.
Stanley Street Station’s playful guerrilla menu – which runs throughout the Festival and revives elements of the Nuyorican Poet’s Café in NYC (circa 1973) – home to poets, rappers and spoken word artists; fuelled the hungry guerrilla poets.
Jess Cook the movement’s founder says “we are thrilled with the quality of poetry, and the variety between each of the 10 artists – soon to be unleashed on Sydney.”
“These winning poets will have their speech bubbles duplicated to make 100 bubbles per poet, a thousand bubbles, which we’ll be planting all over the CBD, in true guerrilla style - fast paced and covert.”
“The guerrilla’s mission is to perpetrate the urbanscape and provide public access to poetry, with finders free to pick up artworks and take them away as a keepsake o,r simply transport to a destination of their choice,” she says.
Termed ‘temporary graffiti installations’, the movement follows a public art trend currently sweeping Europe and the States; and brings interactive, transportable and fun art to Sydneysiders, to discover and enjoy at their leisure.
Don’t miss the next stage of the Guerrilla Poetry Project when the poets infiltrate the cityscape from August 23 – 3 September – keep an eye out for covert poetry operations where you least expect!
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David Jobling
