Somewhere, there in Mslexia

My photo-poem 'Somewhere, there' was recently published in Mslexia 88 in their 'Eyeverse' section. I really appreciate the fact that this publication has a space specifically for text-image poetry submissions. I often find it challenging to fit in my photo-poems into existing publication formats; whether that is an editorial decision to include only text, use images alone or as illustration only, or due to the constraints of the format, i.e. print costs. So thank you Mslexia for this opportunity. 

 

Confirmation

Who are you?

When I get home, I don't know what to talk to you about. 

Who are you?

Confirmation 

..and I just asked about the scones, 

you know,

and I just wanted confirmation

you know?

Outside

Ich werde mich nach Draußen sitzen
 - I'm going to sit outside
A most profound conclusion
So full of meaning and weight
when said in German by a man,
with a voice like stone, gravel and sand
as if to say,
there is nothing temperate about this place
humidity wraps around his words
the air, though heavy, is put in its place
cloying and sweet, his voice dry and deep
There is no equilibrium between the man and this place
yet he is so mild and agreeable
as he leaves his wife in the temperate house

Photos in the Temperate Lands greenhouse which is free to enter at the Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh.

Poems based on conversations overhead in the Botanical Gardens and during the Edinburgh Festival. 

‘Roll up, roll up to the merry-go-round ! Escape the humdrum ! Stories are written/erased, images blur/reappear. A ride that ends where it begins, where no journey is ever the same…’

merry-go-round

Art Walk Porty 2018 - "Pleasure Ground"

30th August to 9th September

Merry-go-round is an exhibition taking place at twelve triangles cafe in Portobello as part of Art Walk Porty festival 2018. Artists from the book collective Edinburgh and Elsewhere artist book collective  are showing photos, poems and artist books including Dinda Fass, Elaine Robson and myself. 

"The merry-go-round is a favourite fairground ride for many, offering the chance to escape from the humdrum, albeit momentarily, into a different world. It is a place where you can travel, but without going anywhere. The ride just ends where it starts. But many things can happen riding the merry-go-round. Memories can fade away or be recollected, stories can be written or conversely erased, images can blur, fade and reappear all within a matter of moments. The ride is repeated but different details appear, other moments matter, new thoughts occur"

If you are in Porty, then come down! 

#viewfromawindow

Pocket-sized Peninsula

My new artist book, "To the Peninsula, my Friends" is out now! It is a poem with photographs taken on a walk along the Greenwich Peninsula in London, currently undergoing massive development. Having grown up in Greenwich, since childhood I have often walked eastwards along the river and witnessed the many changes to the landscape and use. On this occasion, I spotted a very unassuming building called 'The Ernest Shackleton Lodge', tucked amongst the newer higher-rise flats. Intrigued by the contrast and possible connection between Shackleton and the newly developed Peninsula, I decided to combine the quotes of the polar explorer with the sales language of the Greenwich Peninsula PR. Though one hundred years apart, these two sources seem to be steeped in the same hubris, pioneering new territories but for whom? 

The book is A6 format in an edition of 50. It is signed and hand-stitched and costs just £7.50 including post and packaging to the UK and the EU. If you would like to have one, please email me at: cathmarshall@googlemail.com. 

Many thanks to Julia Stone for design and production of the book. 

Number 26 to Elsewhere

I am very excited that my piece, End of the Line,  has been published on the blog of the Elsewhere: A Journal of Place. 

It tells the tale of a rather unusual bus journey to the end of the line in Edinburgh, a discovery of an industrial museum, witness to centuries of change and my own transition in moving to a new city and country. 

'Elsewhere is a journal dedicated to writing and visual art that explores the idea of place in all of its forms, whether city neighbourhoods or island communities, heartlands or borderlands, the world we see before us or landscapes of the imagination.'

I have been a fan of the Elsewhere for quite some time, enamoured of the print journal's beautiful design and illustration by Creative Director, Julia Stone, and impressed by the photo essays and high quality writing, selected by Editor in Chief, Paul Scraton. The latest issue, no.4, is available here. 

So long, and thanks for all the fish

I walked into the Tate to see a member of staff holding an inflatable fish. 

This was after seeing a striped man trying to outdo St Paul's with his pointy hat.

At first sight unsettling, this image is benign: people enjoying merging and emerging from the water spray installation outside the Tate

These workmen at the Tate are responsible for your Seele (German word for soul). However, they are not buying at the moment. I tried. 

When you step inside, the 'book' is in fact a video installation showing unpublished photos of built spaces: urban, corporate, detailed. mundane, and epic side by side. In short, wonderful and insightful. This part of Tillman's show is off the turbine Hall and as far as I know this part is free entry. 

The former power station supports life: a bush. Actually, Peregrine Falcons have been spotted hunting pigeons from the tower.

you know it is a good show when the staff are still enjoying it

A surreal part of the day, seeing Wolfgang Tillmans in person who kindly signed the catalogue for me.

Perhaps the best slogan of all time?

 Scorched earth policy applied to design - Berliner U -Bahn seating

I obviously came late to the inflatable fish party: The Tate roof.

This aerial image is like a map of somewhere else

Canary Wharf. When you know the formative structure of the building is going to be more interesting looking than the building itself

Edinburgh and Elsewhere

Last weekend I took part with the Edinburgh and Elsewhere team at the Artists' BookMarket at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.  We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book fair, chats with visitors and other book artists. I picked up quite a few books myself.

I launched my new book 'Fleetway', a story inspired by a failed roll of film and set at the Cammo estate in Edinburgh, in an edition of 100. 

It was designed by Julia Stone, the creative director of Elsewhere: A Journal of Place.

From this Friday, 'Fleetway' will be for sale at the Summerhall shop in Edinburgh. 

The Edinburgh and Elsewhere team are continuing their collaboration at the upcoming Artist' Books and 'Zine Fair BOOKMARKS on the 29 March 2017 at Edinburgh College of Art. 

from left to right, Edinburgh and Elsewhere team: me, Elaine Robson, Yi-Chieh Chui, Gerard O'Brien 

We will continue to sell issues of Elsewhere at Artists' Book Fairs. Alternatively you can buy them online here.