5 x 8 Poetry Digest 01: collective identity of the inner reality and the external world

Exploring a beautiful sense of inner and outer objects with a vitality in their material presence as sharing a fecund space of interaction where the individual is found rather than claimed.

Artists and poets have their own ways and can go through walls with a word.  Poetry can reveal what is going on in the various rooms of an apartment building by removing the facade.  Gina Andree alters and enhances images that offer the viewer an alternate perspective of assumed truths. By detailing the individual portrait or scene, the painter creates a new version, resulting in a performative aspect within the image that compels the viewer to reconfigure and reconsider their meaning. Speech and thought can be made visible through coded symbols within Gina Andree’s, A Place For Reflection. Equivalent to nouns in spoken language, things such as daily objects, plants, books and bookcases help to ground paintings in the real world.  The artist concentrates on finding ways of making visible that which needs to be visible.  Through The Garden Window offers contemplation of a familiar scene of research, something ancient from a contemporary present perspective in the act of reading.  These subtle forms of collective identity are distinct and yet transcendent of its material origins.

For the first poetry reading in the series, we encourage participating poets to respond to the theme.  Emceed by Curator, Ross Heathcote.

Five poets:

Louise Carter is a Sydney poet whose work has appeared in HEAT, Best Australian Poems (2012 & 2015), Cordite, Meanjin, Westerly and other publications. Her poem ‘Hot Clouds’ was Highly Commended in the 2018 Judith Wright Poetry Prize and in 2020 her poem ‘History of Sadness’ was Highly Commended in the Blake Poetry Prize. She holds a PhD in Australian Postmodern Romantic Poetry from Western Sydney University. Louise’s first collection Golden Repair is available now from Giramondo Publishing. https://louisecarter.net.au/

Jennifer Dickerson has been writing since shew was a child, with her first article published in Woman magazine n 1949. She has written for newspapers, radio and television professionally for more than 25 years. She has been writing poetry with the Kitchen Table Poets since its inception 1970, and received the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Shoalhaven region) for ten years. She has been the recipient of the International Women’s Day Award for community service and a served five years as a Member of the Western Sydney University Arts Board. She is a current member of the WOLLIS poetry group. Her books include Against the Tide, a biography of Robert Dickerson, Chiaroscuro (collected poetry); Quirky Verse and Letters to Dead People, is set to be released before the end-of-year.

Adam Gibson is a Sydney artist, performer, writer, lyricist, and musician, whose work covers spoken word storytelling, music, songs, painting, travel writing, installation, performance, video, and photography.  He performs regularly solo and with his band The Aerial Maps, an ensemble that has released three albums in total, the most recent being ‘Intimate Hinterland‘, plus two previous albums, ‘The Sunset Park‘ and ‘In the Blinding Sunlight‘. https://adamfgibson.com/

Djon Mundine OAM is a proud Bandjalung man from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Mundine is a curator, writer, artist and activist and is celebrated as a foundational figure in the criticism and exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art. In 1993, Mundine received the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the promotion and development of Aboriginal arts, crafts and culture. He won The Australia Council’s 2020 Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement and is currently an independent curator of contemporary Indigenous art and cultural mentor. https://www.djonmundine.com/

Michele Seminara is a respected Sydney-based poet, writer, essayist, editor, speaker and moderator. Her writing has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in publications such as Australian Poetry Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Jacket2 Magazine, Cordite, The Market Herald and The Australian.  She has published two full-length collections, Suburban Fantasy (UWA Publishing, 2021) and Engraft (Island Press, 2016), as well as two chapbooks, Scar to Scar (written with Robbie Coburn, PressPress, 2016) and HUSH (Blank Rune Press, 2017). https://micheleseminara.net/

Exhibitions by Gina Andree and Christine Lantas until 16 November 2025. To find out more visit: https://dickersongallery.com.au/

Image detail of Light filled room by Gina Andree. All rights reserved.

Poetry Sydney gives respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land we live, create, meet and work.

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