Reborn Collaboration 2018
Reborn
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Labour heralds new beginnings,
in whose exhaustion,
death throes
become life throes!
Arrival blossoms
across pure white sheets
in a carnival of scars
that is your awakening
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AlisonR
What and experience! What a privilege!
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In 2018 my poem ,entitled Reborn, was one of ten works selected for a collaboration between well known print artist, Lucy Turner, and the "Words for Castle Ward" writers group as part of the Linen Biennale Northern Ireland.
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The collaboration resulted in a breathtakingly beautiful set of Shibori inspired linen panels, each unique in design, energy and colour as the indigo faded with each dyeing. Created by Lucy Turner, these were overprinted with the work of the poets, as well as geometric patterns, inspired by flooring in old Irish linen workers cottages. The poetry itself was inspired by the process of Shibori and Lucy's experience of it - the exhaustion of the labour, the fading of the indigo with each use, the precision of the process and also a letting go so that the process has a life of its own too.
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The "Linen Biennale Northern Ireland" Festival celebrates the past, present and future landscape of linen. Held every two years, it is presented and hosted by multiple venues across Northern Ireland and aims to stimulate new thinking about Ireland's oldest textile products, flax and linen. Forming a bridge bridge between Northern Ireland's linen heritage and contemporary users, it gives the linen story relevance to a wide range of modern audiences locally, nationally and internationally.
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