POEARTY

"Poearty" is a 4 minute HD art video featuring poetry readings by actress Aubrey Allen and prominent Canadian painter Graham Gillmore. Most of the video features a split screen juxtaposing the "real-time" poetry reading with “atemporal” imagery of related locations. This dualism between the young actress in Part 1 and the artist/actor in Part 2 creates an ambiguous narrative. It is uncertain whether the poem is two unique views of the same event or if the actor in Part 2 continues the story left off by the actress in Part 1. Perhaps, they simply actors reading poetry and both performing spontaneous readings.

Tinted interior and exterior scenes help distinguish these “atemporal" locations featured as colourized complements of the dialogue occurring simultaneously in split screen compositions. Inspired by The New York School, this video is bold, brash and strongly syncopated with a vibrant soundtrack by the Toronto rock band "So Young".  

Special thanks to Jeff Hamill (Editor), Geordie Allen, Eileen Myles and Paterson Hodgson.