City of Victoria Poet Laureate Marie Metaphor Specht invites the community to participate in Poetry in Light, two poetry writing workshops and a performance inspired by and performed with an upcoming interactive, sculptural lighting installation inside the Greater Victoria Public Library’s sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch.
“The Poetry in Light workshops and performance will explore writing as an act of love and what it is to be human in a profoundly difficult yet terribly beautiful world – integrated with the new Love Begets Love interactive art piece,” said Victoria Poet Laureate Marie Metaphor Specht.
People ages 15 and up are invited to register to participate in one or both poetry writing workshops hosted by Metaphor Specht to explore various definitions of love and consider how it moves through our communities. Writing from the Heart will be held on Thursday, November 30 and Love Letters from an Aching World on Thursday, December 7, both from 5:30-7 p.m. at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch Library.
Workshop participants can participate in the Poetry in Light performance alongside curated poetry performed by established local poets and spoken-word artists. Poems will explore the diverse spectrum of loving human relationships, including themes of 2SLGBTQIA+ love. The Poetry in Light performance will take place on Friday, January 12, 2024, from 7-9 p.m. at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch Library.
Poetry will be performed with the Love Begets Love responsive artwork, a collaboration by Metaphor Specht and Gabrielle Odowichuck, Vice-President of Limbic Media. The interactive art piece uses the Aurora system to make live sound into shifting patterns of light and colour. The audience will see the poetry translated into the language of light as heart-shaped lanterns shift through a rainbow spectrum in sync with each performer’s voice.
To be installed by November 27, the Love Begets Love artwork will be visible from inside and outside the library until the end of April 2024.
Poetry in Light is presented in partnership by the City of Victoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library. For more information on the interactive artwork, to register for the free workshops or for tickets to the free performance, visit victoria.ca/poetlaureate.
Media Contacts:
Colleen Mycroft
Manager, Intergovernmental and Media Relations
250.896.5325 | cmycroft@victoria.ca
Kelly Ridgway
Marketing and Development
Greater Victoria Public Library
250.940.4875, ext. 346 | kridgway@gvpl.ca