Seen
"Seen" is as an ekphrastic poem written in response to artist Manuel Mathieu's work “World Discovered Under Other Skies” which was on view at The Power Plant.
In this work I was thinking of so many things, legacies and heritages and shared experience and and.
"Seen" was chosen for honourable mention by Elder Duke Redbird for POWER OF THE POETS 2 Ekphrastic Poetry Contest at the The Power Plant.
Here we see "Seen" being performed in sign language by the incredible artist, athlete and Deaf Black Queer activist Natasha "Courage" Bacchus who breathes her awesome aliveness thus blessing the poem into being. Natasha is performing against the background of my printwork "Game Face (Now You Know), a project commissioned for the travelling group exhibition, "The Visual Life of Social Affliction: A Small Axe Project" which investigated Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora artists' relationship to the colonial past and present.
The making of this work was made possible by funding for my project " The Freedom Tenderness Trade Context aka Movement is my medicine." as part of the Traduction project series by DARE-DARE in Montreal.
Proverb: One hand cyah clap.
The poem is en bas:
Seen
Look
Look longer
See me.
See me See me See me
So that I may see myself.
Mmmmmm
Drop
and
Breath.
Come closer,
but not Too Close,
Just close enough to see,
The whites of my eyes,
The span of my arms,
The curve of my lips,
The kink in my hair,
The jump in my step,
The width of my spirit,
No dreams deferred.
My Black body aliveness.
Project made possible by funding from DARE-DARE
Anna Jane McIntyre Director
Anna jane McIntyre Writer
Anna Jane McIntyre Producer
Natasha "Courage" Bacchus Key Cast
Danny Winchester Video editing and captioning