Group Exhibition
Michał Kamil Piotrowski, Mellissa Monsoon, Penny Carlaw, Helena Pastoriza-Tan, Kate Clements, Joanne Barrett
14-26 October
Open daily, 10:00-17:00
Private View:
Friday 17 October, 17:00-21:00
Additional events will be advertised on the artBLAB Instagram page
still out of CONtext will show you poetry in unexpected forms. The artists made poetic sculptures, installations, and innovative poems in two dimensions, encompassing the topics of health, food, abuse, diet culture, and grief, amongst others. Each artwork is the result of a deep love for the mediums used and an intense process of ideation, research and development. All with you in mind.
Why still out of CONtext? Firstly, we are taking poetry out of its natural habitat. Then, we take away the focus on text. Finally, we are still trying to CON you a bit: you won’t get what you expect!
So come, engage, think, read and be entertained.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Michał Kamil Piotrowski is a poet, poetry teacher and curator living in Folkestone, UK. His practice engages with interactive and participatory techniques in poetry and often includes found text. Recently, he’s been making poetic sculptures and installations. His first book, an interactive text The Cursory Remix (2021, Contraband Books) has been co-written by Google Translate. His second experimental book The Idiotlect Dicktionary was published by Veer in 2023. His TEDx talk The Power of Experimentation: Poetry for the 21st Century is worth watching.
While growing up in New Zealand, Penny Carlaw always loved the power of words, devouring book after book to explore new worlds. After doing a bit of exploring of her own, Penny has settled in the UK and still believes in the power of words to break systems and chains, while bringing both wisdom and hope.
Helena Pastoriza-Tan was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian descent – and now lives between London and Folkestone. Her preferred medium is collage and her focus and interest in this work is in allowing oneself to celebrate one’s own identity without the shackles imposed on us by society.
Kate Clements is a livewire, needs to be constantly occupied and loves creating experimental poetry but not the writing of a bio. She’s a mother of four, student of politics, grower of vegetables, lover of nature. She’s interested in how other people’s perceptions of us construct who we are.
Joanne Barrett is an autistic artist and poet working mainly in textiles and ceramics to create sculpture and visual poetry. She is a Bethlem gallery artist, a member of ELTA and has New Zealand, Irish and British heritage.
Mellissa Monsoon (1990) is a British artist based in Kent, whose interdisciplinary practice intertwines art and science to explore themes of nature, the human body, and invisible illnesses. Past works have involved using casts of her own body and the bacteria that live on it to visualise the invisible world on our skin. Recent exhibitions include ‘Sense of Symptoms’, which featured ceramic pieces highlighting her experiences with seeking healthcare as a fat person.