I am a poetry filmmaker, writer, artist and arts journalist/theorist. I have an MPhil in Poetry Film, an MA in Creative Writing and a BA (first class honours) in Fine Art Practice. I have been commissioned to write a book on poetry film by Intellect Books and I write across all mediums, between the verbal, visual and performance arts with a short stage play produced in the US (and a film script optioned), but poetry film combines all of these areas.
Poem or Poetry Films link and fuse previously separate art forms as well as both intuitive and measured decision-making, and are often made as collaborations between poets and filmmakers. Poem films, poetry films, film poems or videopoems are creative, audio visual, verbal and musical short films (often around three minutes in length) that combine poetry and film. Reminiscent of MTV (and sometimes including singing), the poem can be spoken as a soundtrack or as visual text or both and accompanied by music or other sound form. Poetry films often display contrasting visuals to the content of the poem. The videopoem as defined by Tom Konyves is created in the making of the film rather than illustrating a previously written page poem.
My poem films and prints play with different forms of composition, from haiku and minimal, concrete visual text to live footage landscape or portraiture and sound with image. Overall I am interested in what I have termed contemplative poem films that are slow, minimal films that are part of my zenzonepoemfilm project. I am also interested in the concept of a moving painting as poem; and how a poetry film might work in new, contemplative or philosophical ways. In the past I painted in a much more active form of neo-Expressionist style before turning to digital media, as you can see from my selected artworks. I have always written poetry but now there is the possibility to combine it with visual art in response to a number of overwhelming issues - particularly the desecration of the natural environment.
Whilst poem film is a medium that can be made and enjoyed by all ages, it also provides a format for highly creative, avant-garde individuals worldwide. I believe that poetry film says it like no other medium, being both challenging and entertaining, bringing to light previously unspoken areas, caught between the subjective and the public domain.
You will find my written commentary on the subject both here and on the Liberated Words.com website. Also there is our expanding Liberated Words Facebook group that provides further information for everyone interested in making poetry films.
Selected Poetry Film, Sound and Arts related Events,
‘Exploring Contemplative Effects in Text-based Video Poems’ Abridged essay as online multi-site publication at: Moving Poems, Atticus Review and Poetry Film Kanal (June–August 2017), from the forthcoming The Poetics of Poetry Film, Intellect Books.
interview on my microscopy poem film Patterned Utterance
Liberated Words.com
vimeo.com/sarahtremlett
Festival Screenings
TARP
VideoBardo
Visible Verse
Cyclop
Liberated Words
Elephant's Footprint
Publications/ Writings
‘Exploring Contemplative Effects in Text-based Video Poems’ Abridged essay as online multi-site publication at: Moving Poems, Atticus Review and Poetry Film Kanal (June–August 2017), from the forthcoming The Poetics of Poetry Film, Intellect Books.
'The Last Green Mile' - an ekphrastic poem on Peter Lanyon; Otter Gallery Poetry Anthology, Chichester University, 2015
Poem Your Body Contains Traces for ‘Price Cut matters’, Super Farmers’ Market, Handel Street Projects, Chelsea College of Art and Design Research Group
The Performance Dinners, ed by Dr Mo Throp, CCW Graduate School, 2013
Guns, Hot Water Bottles and Angels, poetry film d.v.d. and short essay/ rationale on Valerie Solanas’ SCUM Manifesto.
Matternal Philosophy / Non-Dualist Screen
‘Matternal Philosophy, Female Subjectivity and Text in Art’, 2008. New Realities: Being Syncretic, Springer Wein, New York, 292–296. Consciousness Reframed Conference IX
Some Everybodies – Design and non-dualist filmic experience. 2009 in: - Experiencing Design, behaving media, Consciousness Reframed Conference X, pp. 99-100 - Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research, Intellect Books Ltd, Vol. 8 (2), pp. 139–147
‘Matter-nal Philosophy – Gathering, Dominion, Passing-By’. Topographies: Sites, Bodies, Technologies, Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, 2009 [online]
Essays
Chance Operations MIX 2012 Conference
Maria Nepomuceno at Victoria Miro Gallery – Saatchi-gallery.co.uk
Selected poems for The Poetry Archive online guide
SELECTED EVENTS 2017-2005
‘Exploring Contemplative Effects in Text-based Video Poems’ Abridged essay as online multi-site publication at: Moving Poems, Atticus Review and Poetry Film Kanal (June–August 2017), from the forthcoming The Poetics of Poetry Film, Intellect Books.
Commission by Filmpoem (Alastair Cook) to make a film for one of the commended Poetry Society 2016 National Poetry Competition poems (American poet Sam Harvey’s ‘Claire Climbs Everest’); March 2017. Editor Howard Vause. North West Universities Poetics and Poetry Network Symposium, January 2017 Invited by Dr Judy Kendall of The University of Salford to present on the theme of poetry film.
SoundsRite, Creative Online Journal, Vol 6, 2015
soundsrite.uws.edu.au
In The Turning and She, Seasons, Contemplating Nature
MIX Conference, Bath Spa University, June 2015
I gave a presentation on Liberated Words’ workshops with schools and elderly patients at The Royal United Hospital, Bath courtesy of Art at the Heart.
TARP, Audio Visual Poetry Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, September 2015
I gave a talk and presentation on ten years of my poetry films at the National Gallery of Art, and premiered two new haiku poetry films.
The South Bank Poetry International Festival (Festival of Love), July 2014
Re: Turning – rhythm and poetry film, a paper and film presentation.
Liberated Words III, 2014 Co-organised Reflections and Memory poetry film festival, commemorating the anniversary of the 1914-18 war at The Arnolfini Art Gallery, Bristol; including Marc Neys’ workshop at The YMCA, Bristol. I also hosted an international poetry film discussion and screening on poetry film and form at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival. There was a second screening of Reflections at The Little Theatre, Bath, March 2015. The programme included workshops from schools and older patients suffering dementia at The RUH Hospital, Bath courtesy of Art from the Heart.
MIX Conference, June 2013 I was on the organising committee.
Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival II Curated and organised Liberated Words II at The Arnolfini Art Gallery, Bristol, October, with a guest panel discussing poetry film including Philip Gross, Professor Martin Rieser, Professor Suzie Hanna, Joe Magee, David Johnson and Jackie Calderwood.
e-Poetry conference, June 2013, Kingston University From Prosody to Moving Prosody, presentation of paper and overview of historical poetry films.
Video Bardo – For The Earth – symposium and screening, Buenos Aires,Argentina, November–December 2012 Invited speaker; ‘The Word as a Leaf’ paper; screening of video She/Seasons/Contemplating Nature and AMAM/AMMA
MIX (Merging Intermedia, 2012) Conference originator, co-organiser and presenter; subject videopoetry and rhythm; also Liberated Words I poetry film screening
Signature, Bath Literature Festival, 2011 videopoem I screening
Chelsea Library and Old College Library, 2011 From Kinetic Works to Digital Poetics, exhibition of Lilian Lijn's cones and sketchbooks and Sarah Tremlett's poetry film Patterned Utterance. Interview with Liliane Lijn, Chelsea Lecture Theatre.
Fabrika Project Space, in conjunction with NCCA, Moscow, 2010 MODUS group and screening of Patterned Utterance and Blanks in Discourse: 03 (Mistaken Identity).
Poetry and Voice Conference, Chichester University, June 25–27th 2010 Speaker – forty minute lecture with three videos
International Festival of Literature, Video Bardo, Buenos Aires
LOOP, Barcelona, CCA, 2010 screening
London Metropolitan University, March 2010 lecture with videos on philosophy in videopoetry practice
Cultural Communication Centre, Klaipeda, Lithuania, 2009
Voices and Silences, British Council funded solo show of prints and videopoems
Consciousness Reframed X – experiencing design, behaving media Macromedia, Munich, November 2009 Paper: Design and non-dualist filmic experience Video: Some Everybodies Presenting paper and showing videopoem (on-line papers and proceedings published)
Society of Dance History Scholars, Stanford University, USA, 2009 Paper: Matter-nal Philosophy – Gathering, Dominion and Passing By Video: Some Everybodies skyped presentation, on-line conference proceedings Topographies, Sites, Bodies, Technologies
Bury Festival of Text, Bury Art Gallery, May – July 2009 Video in opening highlights presentation and showing of videopoem Some Everybodies, June, 2009
Chelsea College of Art and Design, Subjectivities and Feminism Dinner screening of Guns, Hot Water Bottlesand Angels in response to Valerie Solanas’ Scum Manifesto.
Urban Identity, Brooklyn, New York, 2008
videopoem
Videoformat – National Centre for Contemporary arts, Moscow, 2008
Consciousness Reframed, IX – New Realties, Being Syncretic The Planetary Collegium, University of the Applied Arts, Vienna, July 2008, (conference proceedings published by Springer, New York)
Paper: Matternal Philosophy, Female Subjectivity and Text in Art Primary video: Patterned Utterance
Videopoesia Festival, Buenos Aires, 2008
BAC! 07 Babylon, Centre of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, 2007 screening of videopoems
Future Reflections, Chelsea College of Art and Design MA/PhD exhibition/conference
Public Pages, Plymouth University, 2007
After Urban, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Animus/Wilderness, Barbès, Glass Eye, Brooklyn
Attitude Festival, Gallery Magaza, Bitola, Republic of Macedonia, 2006
EXiS, Seoul, Korea, 2006
Glossolalia, video installation, USA
Temporary Identities, video art at Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia
Temporary Cities, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow
Digital Media Festival, New York
River’s Edge Film Festival, USA
Quecpix, Nuovi Linguaggi, Sala Multimedia, Castello Svero, Bari, Italy video art festival, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Widcome Artists Studios, 2006 Talk and Presentation: Bath, November, 2006
Lamport Court Magazine – front and back covers Issue 6 (commission)
Indiana International Video Art and Architecture Festival, USA
Secrets, Womens’ Work 9th Exhibition, 2005
print artwork repeat series
Pink, Seven UK artists at Heriot Watt University
Selected events pre-2005
feature film script optioned
stage play produced and performed in the USA
Reality Bites, shortlisted for a ten-minute documentary series for Carlton TV
Edinburgh film festival, 2001
short film mamababadada
Texas National ‘98: Stephen F Austin State University, Texas, 1998
San Bernadino County Museum 32nd Annual Juried Exhibition, 1997
A commissioned series of paintings concerning adoption for Bath County Court, UK