Not the Whole Picture

A commissioned prose poem for a themed anthology on the idea of Richochet, requested by the editors

untitled review of Cut Up, Richard Skinner (Vanguard Editions) and Dream Into Play, Richard Skinner (Poetry Salzburg)

A book review of two poetry books which use of collage and processual writing

untitled review of Ghosts: Journeys To Post-Pop

Book revie

Uncertain Futures

A fragmented story featuring Micah Moorcock's open-source character Jerry Corneliu

Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage

Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage draws upon an original, wide-ranging dataset to show that the dynamics and ethics of participation in European national minority cultures’ intangible cultural heritage (ICH) are more nuanced than has previously been articulated. Arguing for an approach to analysing ICH that reflects societal change in regions that are historically those of national minorities, contributions to the volume focus on three regions across four countries. This allows for comparative exploration of exemplar contexts that span a range of circumstances in which European national minority cultures thrive and strive for voice and recognition. It explores how a wide range of people engage with national minorities’ ICH, and seeks a better understanding of the ethical and practical dimensions of this participation. It proposes a heritage literate ‘revoicing’ of ICH: to create socially positive pathways to resilient ICH, and in turn ensure ICH is an arena where these positive social relations are shaped as part of an evolving ecosystem into the future. Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage takes an interdisciplinary approach ideally placed to interrogate the interplay of different groups with ICH from multiple perspectives. This makes the book essential reading for academics and students working in heritage studies, sociolinguistics, cultural and event studies, sociology, creative practice, and cultural geography

Let the monuments be eroticized

"Let the monuments be eroticised" is a poetic and critical essay exploring the affects of Hellenic culture in the work of Hellen Chadwick. It all starts pilgrimage to the Helen Chadwick archive in Leeds to find minor threads in the photographs to weave personal and artistic histories, with family albums. Hellenic mythology, Sapphic poetry and the Hellenic Orthodox church. What does it mean to be Hellenic? One thing it can mean, is boasting an affinity with the Hellenic language. We look at - The hand as symbol of Hellenic culture. Internal monuments, the mother’s body, flesh. The air is different on the hill of nymphs – Do myths lie? Do hills lie? This text is part of the first ever critical biography of Helen Chadwick, accompanying a retrospective exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield

Lost and Found

Book review of Local Haunts: Non-Fiction 2012-24, Adam Scovell (Influx Press) and The Lost Folk, Lally Macbeth (Faber

Taking up space

Cornwall, in the far southwest of Great Britain, is only seven miles wide at its narrowest point. Surrounded on three sides by the sea, it has among the lowest permanent population densities of the UK (Office for National Statistics 2021), and much of the region is served by a single main road. Historically, its main industries were fishing and mining; today, despite having towns and a city, Cornwall is marketed to tourists with a romanticised vision of its rural and coastal remoteness. Traditional industries would likely have left the landscape empty: with miners underground (though with 'balmaidens' smashing stones above ground) and fishermen at sea, there must have been a spaciousness, a lack of visible 'busy-ness' (Tuan [1977] 2008: 61). Yet the number of visitors in peak season clashes with the marketed image of quiet rurality that draws to some extent on this historic imaginary. Small fishing villages frequented by tourists easily become blocked by traffic. A boom in holiday rentals, plus an increase in new permanent and temporary residents, has resulted in many local people priced out of their town centres, previously the locus of the community (Duignan 2019). As Tuan observes, 'ample space is not always experienced as spaciousness' ([1977] 2008: 51), and 'for everyone a point is reached when the feeling of spaciousness yields to its opposite-crowding' (Tuan [1977] 2008: 59). The issue of space, clearly, figures prominently in the region's social dynamics. In the context of its intangible cultural heritage (ICH), crowds have traditionally been essential for the liveliness of annual gatherings: the place to meet with extended family, to cook and have an open house, to meet new people, perhaps future partners (Frears 2010). In the present day, too, cultural events are widely acknowledged to be an opportunity to build community (e.g. Duffy & Mair 2014; Arcodia &Whitford 2006) to the extent that they are the annual focal point for many local people. But of course, alongside increased tourism and other demographic changes, it is not only the local community celebrating, as may have been traditionally the case. Known and unknown participants must share space and see each other close-up. Just as there are tensions between insiders and outsiders in Cornwall as a whole, these events offer 'an arena where negotiation is forced upon us' (Massey 2007: 154). In this chapter, we consider the way space functions at two ICH events in Cornwall: both as microcosm of, and reaction to, the spatial relations that are enacted and negotiated within Cornwall's wider socio-cultural landscape

Red Lake / Black Mine - Album

Red Lake / Black Mine is a new multimodal work by composer and visual artist Will Parker - formed by walking, digging and collecting in an area of inland Cornwall referred to as the ‘Carnon Valley’. A trapezoid of land enclosed by the A30, A39, A390 and A393 roads. The title is derived from Baldhu (translation black mine) and Wheal Maid, a former arsenic and copper mine, where the toxic drainage water has formed a crimson lake. The work exists in correlative forms: album, book, and performance. A contemplative communion of sounds, images and text, interwoven from conversations, police reports, buried books, newspaper articles, historical sources and personal journals. Unearthing narratives, abstracted themes and emotional forces. Offering a delicate, fragmented sound world with an intense ASMR-like proximity to the body - Red Lake / Black Mine is a confluence of diverse sonic materials. Modular synthesis meets environmental sounds, deconstructed hymns, opera and VLF recordings of pylons

Flower. New photography of the Flower.

'New photography of the Flower.' Written by Lucy Davies. Published by Hoxton Mini Press This is a collection of the world's most vibrant and inventive contemporary photography of flowers. From the garland wholesalers of Kolkata to wildflowers blooming between paving stones, these images are a modern tribute to the enduring allure of flowers in both art and life. Featured photographers: Gareth McConnell, Xuebing Du, Thomas Brown & Guillaume Ferrand, Sharon Core, Celine Marchbank, Billy Barraclough, Johanna Neurath, Marco Kessler, Anthony Bockheim, Cig Harvey, Debi Shapiro, Kate Friend, William Arnold, Rosalind Hobley, Luke Stephenson, Mary Kocol, Emma Robinson, Jennifer Latour, Ken Hermann, Alma Haser, Abelardo Morell, Hannes Hummel, Tine Poppe, Tony Mendoza. 192pp, hardback, 130 x 180m