A R T I S T    S T A T E M E N T

Or: An Autobiography is an exhibition of calligrammes (shape poems) selected from the long poem ‘The Or Tree’ in the poetry book Or: An Autobiography (published by Upswell Publishing, 2026). The poem and book explore fluidities of self, body, and imagination. Its central long poem, ‘The Or Tree’, is a speculative version of the fictitious poem ‘The Oak Tree’, by Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. ‘The Oak Tree’ takes Orlando over 300 years to write, in which time they live through multiple eras, burn their poetic oeuvre, have various affairs with poets, critics, and a queen, and change gender from man to woman. ‘The Or Tree’ is an assemblage poem, resurrected chronologically from fragments of the six chapters of a burnt copy of Orlando: A Biography. It is an homage to androgyny and the non-binary, or rather, an expression of the fluidity we are all capable of. ‘Or’ is an alter ego and character in the poem (pronouns they/them), as well as a conjunction, and a ghost. ‘The Or Tree’ is complemented by an ‘understorey’ (not featured in this exhibition), a poetic essay that underscores and intertwines with the poem across each chapter in a radical play on the autobiographical and citational. Or: An Autobiography is available from the Upswell Publishing website and at all good bookshops. 

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C O N T A C T
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