The Bury Poems 3: The Rock

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Image copyright The Frances Frith Collection.

Back in 2021, I was commissioned at part of Bury’s Town of Culture to create a series of poems in responses to the history of the town- I realised recently that although they were performed and displayed at Bury Art Museum, they were never published anywhere so I am going to post all five over the next few weeks. Each one involved walking these places I am familiar with, reconnect with them and then digging deep in the archives to find hidden stories.

The rock

Dark night, full moon

A burning trail across the night sky

A meteorite, big as a house

Slams into ancient Bury.

The Rock.

The druids gathered

Dark night to bright morning

The chants raising to a crescendo as the sun peeks perfectly over the holy stone.

It is summer, the solstice

The Rock.

Tied fast with both hands.

Guilty as charged.

A thief and a drunkard.

Three days, publicly shamed.

Like Prometheus tied.

The Rock.

“The Romans brought it”

“No I heard the Celts”

“There is no rock on the rock, the rock was a road, or a river or something”

But the stories?

Just rumours,

But the tales

They will tell.

Look now – and the story is you.

Every shining glass surface,

Reflects us now.

Who we are.

Our head briefly and awkwardly poised on mannequins before we move on,

Their outstretched hands

 welcome us, but don’t know us,

As we pass between,

Buy,

And leave.

Never noticing the path, the river, the road or the route

That brought us here

The foundation that everything was built upon

The Rock.

So when the bags are not too heavy,

Or you have a moment to spare,

Find the gravestones they left.

The stone road,

That will lead you back,

To the heart, the centre

The Rock.

The Bury Poems 2: Market

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Back in 2021, I was commissioned at part of Bury’s Town of Culture to create a series of poems in responses to the history of the town- I realised recently that although they were performed and displayed at Bury Art Museum, they were never published anywhere so I am going to post all five over the next few weeks. Each one involved walking these places I am familiar with, reconnect with them and then digging deep in the archives to find hidden stories

David Dixon / Bury Market / CC BY-SA 2.0

Market

Like a seagull descending 

An alien ship from space. 

This world-famous market, 

Is a wonderful place. 

You should see it at dawn, 

When the crowds haven’t come, 

And the traders are moving, 

Up with the sun. 

With purpose and routine, 

They’ve done this before, 

Stacked all the bargains, 

From ceiling to floor. 

Step into the market, 

Step into our place, 

Soak up the rhythm, 

The heartbeat, the pace. 

There are comings and goings, 

Movement all round, 

Take in the sights, 

Swim in the sound. 

“Two for a pound” 

“Receipt’s in the bag” 

Park at the counter 

For a pint and a fag. 

There are regulars, the “lifers”, 

Who have seen it all, 

Who’ll stay for a chat, 

Because it’s more than a stall. 

It’s a story, a memory, 

A familiar face, 

“It’s the people” they’ll tell you, 

“That really make this place”. 

And from samosa, to cannoli, 

To Kielbasa and brie, 

The fabric, the gadgets, 

There is more here to see. 

It’s a centre, a heart, 

A reflection of us. 

And you are part of it, 

When you step off the bus. 

Or drive, or walk, 

Or come on the tram. 

“It might not be the pyramids 

But its world-famous man!” 

The Bury Poems.

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Back in 2021, I was commissioned at part of Bury’s Town of Culture to create a series of poems in responses to the history of the town- I realised recently that although they were performed and displayed at Bury Art Museum, they were never published anywhere so I am going to post all five over the next few weeks. Each one involved walking these places I am familiar with, reconnect with them and then digging deep in the archives to find hidden stories

Here is the first: Kay Gardens

Roll UP Roll UP 

Step right this way! 

Come and dance in the gardens 

Come out and play! 

Kay Gardens and the communion of cabs, 

In endless procession.  

A carousel of cars, 

Around this crossroads, 

These moments. 

These interchanges of stories. 

Where past and present collide, 

To fight over the future. 

Roll UP Roll UP 

Step up to the ring! 

Jump in with our boxer 

If fighting’s your thing! 

A tale from the past is calling to you.  

With a roar! 

For once, 

The story goes, 

A man fought a bear here and died.  

And not too many steps away, in the belly of the museum, in an old dusty box 

Are a pair of bear’s feet. 

If the tale is to be believed.  

Roll UP Roll UP 

The circus is in town! 

 Come all to join us, 

Come on down! 

Spaces have stories, 

That belong to those who tell them. 

And if you listen you will hear them 

Fighting against the calling of pigeons 

 the mods said, then the punks said, then the goths said, and the skaters said… 

Then and then. 

The next hat’s in the ring. 

Around and around they go. 

Roll UP Roll UP 

You won’t believe your eyes 

Play for the fun sir 

Play for the prize! 

Taking centre stage, 

Is the momument to Kay, 

Whose shuttle changed the world. 

But the bronze figure on top is not fame, 

It is an angel. 

Carrying a barrel-chested bear fighter 

Who was bested, broken and beat, 

On one final journey 

Around and beyond.  

While the cabs in reverential black 

Bear a silent witness. 

All poems © Josef Minta 2021. 

Dads+Carers+Kids+ Art= communities of support.

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It has been a real pleasure to work with MATCH (Men and Their Children) in St Helens to produce a booklet to support other new dads and carers. Meeting every two weeks at Family Hubs in St Helens we have created art, talked and shared the ups and downs of being a new dad. Making something and having a drop-in activity for the kids was a great structure to allow space and time to share and a part of my practice I will continue to develop. Dads talked about their uncertainty, health worries and concerns about children and partners, and the conflict of wanting to help raise their kids while also working to provide for them. I was really bowled over by the welcome I received and how willing these men were to talk about how they were feeling; good and bad. I never felt that support was there when I was a new dad and it’s really encouraging that these spaces exists and that the men there want to do something to help others; there is hope and positivity there and evidence of people building the communities of support they need around them and welcoming all in. They have produced a helpful and tangible guide for other dads (which will be distributed at schools, hospitals, doctors surgeries and beyond) which might just provide a link for someone struggling to a community who are ready, willing and able to pitch in and support each other. The staff at the Family hubs are fantastic and made us all feel at home and the whole project was made possible by Wonderarts (especailly Emma wh worked with me on every sessions and was a constant source of support and excelletn chat and Danny who did such a great job creating the booklet) supported by the National Lottery Community Fund

If you are interested in starting a group like this, and cleary these is a need for this, or need someone to lead sessions with an existing group, shout out…this dad is ready to help.

200 hundred years of history…in three poems!

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It was a real pleasure to have been commisioned by the It Started With a Seed International Storytelling Festival as part of the 2024 Manchester Histories Festival to write a sries of poems in response to the 200 Year annivesary of Manchester Metropolitan Univesity. When I first saw the shout out for this project, I knew it would give me the opportunity to engage with not only the archive history of the university, but also its growth and development alongside Manchester, its current position in the city (spatially and historically) and what the future of its presence in the city might look and feel like. READ ALL THE POEMS HERE

The process of writing involved a combination of archive resarch, visits to the amazing staff at MMU Special Collections (who were so generous and helpful with their time) and a series of site vists and walking tours- one of which I led with a group of fantastic architecture students.

This vast hoistry was almost duanting in its scope so to structure the response, I conceptualised three phases and three poems: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Yestedray was focused on the origns and legacy, Today looked at where the university sits as part of the current make-up of Manchester and Tomorrow as a more speculative view of the possible future.

Finding hidden histories in archives and developing a better understanding of where the univesity came from (aided in a massive way by two fantastic books Many Arts, Many Skills: Origins of Manchester Metropolitan and Manchester Metropolitan University: images of history) and what it became while having time to explore the site on foot and really engage with the pysical space of the campus was really inspirational and helped me write three poems I was really very proud of. This culimated reading all three poems at the launch of the festival in the iconic Central Library– the right words in the right place at the right time; a real dream. It was also amazing to hear and see the responses of the other comissioned artists too- what an amazing range of work looking at the same subject from a multiplicity of angles. I also produced three sculptures inspired by my research; bricks which matched the building of the campus etched on their “spines” with titles of books from the special collections. The poems will be published later this year and there may yet be some more events and opportunities to share. A small fragment of the whole though which I feel captures the essence of the commission.

The solution to the puzzle of the future

Is within you.

Nestled spark to burning ember,

Guiding light to flaming torch,

bringing clarity, showing us the way

Out of the darkness.

The Welcome..this is what real community can feel like.

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Its been an honour and privilege being a member of The Factory Assembly for the past two years, working with so many wonderful people to create The Welcome at Aviva studio. The whole program was spectacular in not only embodying and representing the spirit of community, diversity and joy which we as a group felt was the essential part of what the welcome needed to be but also in engendering that spirit in Aviva studio and letting all the people of Manchester know that this building is theirs…this space is ours!.

Looking back now it is difficult to put into words just what a massive amount of work this has taken over a long period of time. We started work on this back in lockdown and have met, first online, and then in person to develop and shape an event which we felt would engage all sections of Manchester (no mean feat!) and allow people to experience this building in a different and unique way.

The end result was something more special than we could have imagined and succeeded in all of our aims. I was genuinely overwhelmed by the number of visitors who came and enjoyed Aviva for the first time or were given places to make their own. Highlights for me (and this is a drastically pared down list) were:
Inside Out This is Manchester– seeing the faces of so many people who make up this city and region represented in such a beautiful way and being able to see those people share this with friends and family (myself included) was magical.
Street Culture Takeover: A fantastic opportunity to really open up the space to a younger crowd and represent the vibrant street life which is is a core part of Manchester identity. Huge thanks to Ste Wing and his team for amazing work on this. It was special.
Deep Flow: This was a truly mesmerising and fully emotional collaborative movement piece created by a number of groups across Manchester and the fantastic Company Chameleon. Not only was it a stunning end to the festival but it also showed just what is possible when you empower people to create something new but also just what is possible in the space. I tried in some way to sum it up in this poem and video responding to a deeply moving performance.

Nothing can really come close to expressing the gratitude and love I feel for all the members of the The Factory Assembly and the amazing team in Factory International who made this possible, nor can I sum up well just what I have learnt from this process except to say this: we came together and created something wonderful and in the face of troubling times, this was a beautiful things to do.

There are loads of fabulous images of the events on the Factory International Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/factory_international/
and some great insights into the whole process as part of the great BBC documentary Imagine The Factory: Made in Manchester

Vigilantia: Artists respond to Mogwai

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I am really proud to have joined a massive range of artists in writers on responding to the music of Mogwai in a fantastic collection VIGILANTIA: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ARTISTS AND WRITERS PAY ATTENTION TO MOGWAI . The collection was produced by David Banning at the wonderful Chroma Edition who continue to release a wide range of really interesting books as well as supporting a number of exhibitions. This collection is wide as it is deep, with each artist or writer taking a song title and responding to it in some way. Some pieces are directly linked to lyrics or title while other work is much more abstract. I was really pleased to produce an art work and a poem responding to the the song “The Precipice” and feel I captured the building momentum of the music somewhere in the art I created. There is also a gripping story by my good friend and sometime collaborator Lee Ashworth (his blog is a bit quiet at the moment but you can find him out there if you so desire). The book is available now and it is not only a beautifully produced object but also sits in a real sweet spot between art, music and writing. You can also listen along to a playlist of tracks responded to in the book on Spotify.

The T-shirt as cultural keystone.

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I am really pleased and excited to be showing a new piece as part of an amazing group exhibition opening at Rogue Studios on Saturday 30th September 2023.

Tees is a group exhibition curated by Mike Chavez-Dawson and Co. exploring the t-shirt as an artform, a form of self expression and a symbol of protest. As someone who regularly used to make their own t-shirts as a quick and easy response to political moments or to quickly realise an artistic idea, I have long be fascinated by the flexibility of the t-shirt as a direct form of self expression; the idea of wearing your heart or your politics on your sleeve (or more accurately on your chest) holds a universal appeal. There are some amazing artists included in this show including Peter Blake, Jeremy Deller and Bob and Roberta Smith to name just a few, more excitingly there are a massive range of artists who have taken this brief and ran with it in every direction all at once! I will be reading a new piece ” The Complete and Unabridged History of Fire” at the preview at 3.30pm on 30/9/23 Be there, buy the t-shirt!

Huge thanks to the team who created the wonderful images:

TEES shoot sponsored by NORTH – great team headed
by Lucy Cameron – creative producer – @lucyy_cameronn @representedby.me

Ona Greenwood – stylist – @onagreenwood @representedby.me

Chris Harvey – photographer – @chrisharveyphoto @representedby.me

Jack McCarthy – Digital assistant – jmcc_rthy @representedby.me

Ryan cooper – videographer – rmcvideography @representedby.me

Aly Steer – HMUA – @alysteermakeup.me
@representedby.me

Harriet Crossley – styling assistant – hlc_styling – @representedby.me

Modelled by Ellie Sammer @elliesammer

Big up to Sam & Karen from Represented by Me for the support. @representedby.me

And Rogue Artists’ Studios (location), and the artists 🙌🙌🙌

You are very welcome!

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We’re celebrating the opening of our new space with a spectacular series of events and performances chosen by the people of Greater Manchester – and everyone is welcome!

Since getting involved in the Manchester International Festival by hosting a festival in my house Future Feast back in 2019 and then being a co-creator of Looking Forward To Tomorrow (Environment Day and Equality Day) in 2021, I have been very lucky to join an amazing group of Greater Manchester Residents to form the Factory Assembly responsible for designing, planning and delivering The Welcome . The Welcome is a nine-day series of events  (11th-19th November) to welcome all the people of Manchester into Aviva Studios, the brand new arts and culture venue for Manchester located behind the Museum of Science and Industry on the old site of Granada Studios (my one time former employer!). Huge events, family friendly workshops and talks are all available for everyone to access and come and make Aviva studios theirs. It would be wonderful if you were able to attend some of the events as there really is something for everyone and it looks set to be an amazing and immersive cultural experience. The Factory assembly is a fantastic group of people who it has been and incredible privilege to work with and go on the massive journey with but nothing would be possible without the hard working team who work full time at MIF and Aviva Studio- their support, care, patience and dedication to realising this project in the way is was conceived and developed has been phenomenal and illustrated just what can be achieved when an organisation really invites in and supports people. I could not be prouder.

Art..Creativity…Bolton

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  • Pigeons took flight with our words.

Sometimes projects come along that really help you to connect back with your own subjects and themes while at the same time exploring new territories, this is really the sweet spot for me, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work on a new project with the fantastic young people at Creatives Now.

Wide venn diagrams covering mapping, psychogeography, mass observation studies, poetry, local history archives and finally a window installation have been rich veins to explore that have not only allowed me to share some of my process with a new group, but also gave me the opportunity to be led and developed by a group of young people keen to make a creative impact on their town. The ultimate in win win. Overheard speech, book titles from archives and poetic responses to field work all came together in a rich and intriguing cultural soup which had almost endless possibilities- it is always fantastic to be in the middle of a project and almost have TOO MANY ideas on where it could go next!

I really think the opening of empty shop spaces to creatives (as well as inviting local groups in to explore collections) is a real way forward to town centre regeneration- look at Stockport, Glossop and beyond. In come the arts and there follows this mysterious and difficult concept to pin down…a vibrant culture. Bury and Radcliffe take note!

The final piece we created “The Anatomy of a Town” was a combination of found text, sculpture and an attempt to reimagine the town centre as something new. For me, it was also great to be working as an artist and workshop facilitator, a side of my practice which I continue to develop through collaborative projects and my work with Factory International (where I am keen to keep young people and local artists front and centre). Got a project? Feel like collaborating? Have an empty shop you think some artists could work in? Need a poet or artists to help articulate your project? Get in touch