Don’t Shoot the Poet

A Photographic exploration of the Spoken Word

What it is: A dynamic, multi-sensory multi-dimensional dialogue on universal truths, unbound consciousness and the mundane details of a seekers life at the intersection of poetry, words, sound and image.

An Exhibition of photographs and corresponding "phrames" both of which are derived from and contrived with phrases taken from the works of Spoken Word poets. Displayed in conjunction with a Soundscape, designed to convey the possibility of yet another layer of meaning, to subtly suggest that perhaps there is another way to go beyond what is viewed, to bid the viewer to listen harder to the voices captured within the stillness of each two dimensional image. To achieve this end, the soundscape itself is twofold: a blending of ambient sound, found sound and music which is periodically stilled by a live spoken word performance.

The combination of and juxtaposition between spoke word and visual images is intended to be organically and dynamically symbiotic. On one hand, each performance will contribute to the complexity of translating each image either by acting as a counterpoise to the images on display or by adding another layer of emotive meaning to these same images. And, on the other hand, performances are meant to serve as injections of real-life into what is for most of the viewing public a solitary and contemplative experience. By cleaving open the viewer's solitary and generally silent experience with both the poetry behind the images viewed and flesh-and-blood presence of the humans responsible for that same poetry, an intimate and individual experience travels across different planes of existence to become part of the shared consciousness of a live, experiential performance.

A shared consciousness shaped by a room full of intentional photographs. Photographs which seek to go beyond their two dimensions by making the invisible, visible. Photographs which either by artistic construct and careful composition or, by the sheer happy chance of capturing the unexpected, will bring the spoken word down the path of the non-narrative. Each pairing of poem and image will take that spare grace of words and draw the invisible from us ~ the visceral emotion, the sensibility and sensuousness within us, the recollection of another time and place ~ making the invisible, visible.

The selection of each poem, the choosing of each phrase from each poem and the creation of or pairing of image and phrase will be done so with an explorative, rather than directive or formulaic, approach to the final outcome always mindful of the possibilities in different configurations of poem and image, and what forms of interpretive process their pairing invite or generate.

The creation of each image, may be done by wholesale fabrication, a completely constructed visual tableau of what is seen to be thematic or iconic within the piece. Or, a more visceral path may be taken, where random opportunities to find the image which vibrates symbiotically with the emotion evoked by the phrase will be sought. Adding layers of possibilities of interpretation and bringing the texture of the experience to another dimension is both the individualized selection of the three-dimensional surface upon each image will be printed and the way in which each image is framed mindfully designed using found objects and incorporating the phrase used in the creation of the image captured.

As a multi-dimensional experience, each image should either uphold or act as a counterpoise to the ideation that " fundamentally, slam poetry is not rooted in appreciative aesthetics but in rhetorical judgment” (Jerry Blitefield).

Nuts and Bolts:

The show is for the James Street North ArtCrawl on July 13, 2012 from 7 o'clock to 11:30 o'clock, at the Studio 12 Gallery.

Several performances/ performers are needed over the 5 hour period.

Poets are asked to submit 5-6 poems by Feb 22nd for review.

15-20 poems will be used in all, there are no guarantees as to whom or how many poets will be selected.

From these works, a number of poets will be asked to perform their work. There are no guarantees as to whom or which work will be selected.

Contact:

Suzanne Kelly at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Todd Murray at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it