We are nearing the end of our first poets’ residency at MIMA, which will culminate in Audrey Cook and Sara Dennis performing new work written in response to the art and audiences of the People-Powered exhibition at MIMA’s Art Social #13 this Thursday 26th November, from 5pm-7pm.

As our poets prepare to share their work (and poems by invited guests who have become participants in their residencies), we’re giving them this space to speak about the experience of being ‘in residence’ at a contemporary art gallery. Audrey says…

As part of my residency with the Tees Women Poets and MIMA, I had to put together an activity inspired by the ‘People Powered’ exhibition, for children and young people taking part in the MIMA Art Trolley. The children were anywhere between the ages of 4 and 12, and we engaged with over
400 children over 5 days. The stories the children told would inform the poems I had written. I asked these children what they thought lived in the River Tees, and together we created a series of folk tales entirely provoked by their imagination. The outcomes were exactly what I had hoped: entirely bonkers, nonsensical, pure chaos; full of colour and vibrancy, completely
cutting through the dark, cold, murky, and mysterious façade that the River Tees has a reputation for.

There were times throughout this storytelling process that I wondered how possible it was to write a full poetry collection, and use every single story we had, build an entirely new local mythos, complete with bestiary, lore, and fable. Very much inspired by a collection by Julian Rothenstein called ‘A Gift’, which is an edited collection from poets under the age of 13. It’s the best book I’ve read all year. That collection may happen one day, but in the meantime, I wrote three poems about this experience. Poems that all seem to have the running theme of ‘children are great and here’s why’.

I adore poetry. It’s my favourite thing to read and I find writing it deeply healing, but a deeply personal process. My background is in theatre storytelling, so this project opened up an avenue for my storytelling that doesn’t have to be self-serving! You can read my poems in MIMAzina by Foundation Press – physical copies will be available to anyone attending the Art Social, and we’ll share an electronic version here in the weeks ahead…

Sara Dennis spent her time in the galleries, speaking to anyone and everyone who visited the exhibition, including of course a contingent from the TWP but also international student groups in town for Middlesbrough Art Week, and The Club…

The Club, a group of elders of all ages who meet weekly at mima were there to cut the ribbon, officially opening the exhibition. The Club are an integral part of the People Powered exhibition, and their River Phrases, displayed in Gallery 2, are a real talking point. The colours and patterns  they created were printed on wallpaper and textiles and displayed as part of the exhibition. I was invited to a few sessions with The Club where we had sing songs, made Peg Powler peg dolls and shared poetry and life stories. They were inspiring and I left each session with a huge smile on my face.

During my residency, I planned to spend time in the galleries engaging with people exploring the exhibition, and on social media, I invited people to pop in for a chat, write poetry and share ideas. And they did! 

In these sessions, we discussed sense of place, belonging, identity, how rivers shape us, how we form stories from stories, and how they are passed down through generations. We talked folklore, myths and wallpaper, herring gulls, snakes, industry, pollution, bridges, wallpaper, asthma inhalers, babies’ dummies and plastic toys. 

As well as people turning up for specific ’round the table’ sessions, I engaged with people who were browsing, discussing how the work made people feel, and explaining the background of different elements of the exhibition. I met some lovely people, including quite a few young families, and we spent time discussing the wallpaper, Peg Powler, the riverboat folk of Greatham Creek and the found objects from the Tees. 

Sara will perform a sequence of new poems this Thursday at the Art Social, where you can pick up a copy of MIMAZina with all our people-powered poems (and more!) As Sara says…

Being poet in residence at MIMA has been an enlightening, inspiring and exciting experience for me, one I had only ever really dreamed of before.

I have the beginnings of a new body of work, exploring the story and stories of the Tees. I’ve discovered so much more about the rich history of our river and its folk through the exhibition,  and I aim to develop and explore the subject further. 

These little tributaries of ideas, branching off from Mother Tees.