A selection of Stitch Translations from Poetry in Aldeburgh exhibition

Background to Coast to Coast to Coast: map, line, and stitch: 

In response to my prompt, on or as close as possible to 31 August 2018, at 8pm, poets drafted a poem at their chosen coast; each draft was given location, date and time as a title, and poets sent a few lines to me representing the essence of their writing. 

 One line of text was selected from each poet to create a litany of the coast around the UK and Ireland and beyond. For my residency as Artist in Residence at Poetry in Aldeburgh, the litany resulted in a concertina journal of 96 lines tracing the coasts of the UK, Ireland, and beyond.

 Each line of the litany was also translated into abstract works resulting in 48 stitched pieces for display.

The artworks were depicted in the order of the litany: the journey around the coast starts at the Pier Head in Liverpool, tours the coast of Northern Ireland, travels around Ireland including Galway, Kerry, Cork, and Wicklow before travelling to Wales, Somerset, Cornwall, along the south coast, west to east, and up the east coast to Whitby, and beyond to Scotland, east to west from Aberdeen to Loch Fyne, over to the Isle of Arran before returning to Southport and Crosby in Merseyside.

It was a pleasure to include four poets located outside of the UK (South of France, Geneva, Turkey, and California), at the time of writing

The slides show a selection of the 48 art works

Ballygally, Co. Antrim, 31 August 11am

light changes everything— sand is muddy-puddled, worm-piled sludge or sun-kissed solid ground

Penzance, 30 August 3.05pm

waves like so many women they never give up

Staithes, 8 September 2.30pm

deep-cut valleys between buttresses of cliffs circle granite piers into the sea

Westhaven, by Carnoustie, 3 September 9.30am

and the terns, nothing more than a rusty door creaking open and shut as they tumble from the grey light, into the grey light

Edinburgh, Portobello Beach, 31 August 10.30am

this bay with its mother’s circled arms of shore, one palm-width gap to open water

Redcar, 31 August 7pm

swollen like the raillery of a swain, copse of boats, clutter of estuary, dark beau, desolate sanctuary

Corrie, Isle of Arran, 1 September 10.30pm

night closing until only one line remains, a distant flicker across the Firth

Fethiye, Turkey, 12 September 1pm

the muezzin’s call rings around the bay, comes to me as the wind whisks the waves

Ballinduff Inlet, Lough Corrib, Co. Galway, 31 August 12.30pm

an opus of fresh water, home to trout, rare birds, fauna, the wild Here time is held still