https://www.stevenjfowler.com/nationalgallery/ The National Gallery : poems on paintings
Three National Gallery commissions in 2023. I'm writing new poems on paintings of choice as well as interacting and improvising with gallery guides, during three Friday night lates events. Those events I also have a chance to curate, inviting other poets and students of mine from Kingston University. “"For centuries, the artforms of painting and poetry have been in dialogue with each other, with each informing the other, or attempting to translate what makes them unique as their own media into another. In this unique event and across future Friday Lates, poet and performer SJ Fowler will read new ekphrastic poems about chosen paintings in our collection, offering alternative interpretations of their meaning, history and standing.”
An unexpectedly enormous turnout for myself and poets Kayona Daley, Cameron Wade and Tom Jenks, alongside educator and guide Katy Tarbard all curated by Joseph Kendra. This was a very memorable event, relaxed, literary, fun. The poems were serious, engaging, resonant, but the atmosphere was more febrile, playful. But it stayed close, despite the big crowd in small spaces with unamplified voices. Katy, Kayona, Cameron, Tom, Joseph are such decent, warm people, to match their talent, the whole thing was so enjoyable for me. A special start to 2023 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/talks-and-conversations-friday-lates-tour-and-poetry-readings-writers-kingston-20-01-2023
