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A Jersey-poet who uses writing as a way of processing her life is publishing her first book, which brings together the poems she wrote during the pandemic about supporting her father in the US, freedom, isolation and her walks in the island – some of which she will be reading at the Greve de Lecq Barracks next week.
Every Friday, Express presents a selection of online and offline exhibitions, performances, workshops, events and other historic, creative and delicious content to help islanders get their weekly dose of culture.
Here’s this week’s offering…
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Pictured: 'Restricted Movement' is Traci's first book publication.
Jersey-based poet Traci O’Dea spent twelve months in the midst of the pandemic supporting her father, who lives in the US, as he was struggling with mild dementia and a relapse into substance abuse. As she has done since as long as she can remember, she turned to poetry to help process the events.
“I have been writing since I was little,” she said. “It is something I do to sort of help my brain process things, it’s a natural thing, it’s very natural. Some people exercise or take walks, I do these things too, but poetry is the main thing that keeps my brain clear.
“During the pandemic, my dad went missing a couple of times… I am here and he is in the USA, it was very stressful wondering where he was, and poetry was a way for me to process that.”
Traci’s poems will soon be released in what will be her first book publication, titled ‘Restricted Movement’ (Scotland Street Press), which was supported by ArtHouse Jersey’s Funding for Artists programme.
She explained the book talks about freedom, what it means to her father but also what it meant to herself and other islanders during the pandemic, who despite having to be in isolation were able to enjoy two hours a day to go out and exercise.
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“In addition to writing, I would do a lot of walking, I live right across the sea, this is also a love note to Jersey,” Traci said.
“We were very lucky during the past year in Jersey compared to my friends in the US, compared to my friends in the UK or even my friends in the Caribbean. We had a lot of freedom that they did not have.”
The poems also touch on the themes of isolation and Traci’s feelings about being far away from her family.
“It sounds depressing but at the same time it is very funny. My dad is a very funny character, he is hilarious. He’s is a painter and 24 of his paintings are featured in the book, it’s full of my poems and his paintings and it’s a reflection of his really vibrant and playful personality!”
“It’s extremely personal but people have found it very relatable,” Traci added. “Everyone has gone through this past year in different capacities wherever they were, everyone can relate to what’s happened or dealing with an aging parent, it’s so specific to me but it’s made it universal.”
Pictured: The book also features paintings by Traci's father.
Traci will be celebrating the release of her book with a live performance at ArtHouse Jersey’s HQ, Greve de Lecq Barracks on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 June at 19:30. The event is part of ‘Live at the Barracks’, a series spanning four genres of entertainment.
In addition to spoken word, the charity will be offering live music from Vn Cassidy on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 July, drama sketches from playwright collective Plays Rough on 22 and 23 July and finally comedy from the popular creator of ‘Jersey: A Musical Journey’ mocu-series, Christian Jegard on 26 and 27 August.
Traci is no stranger to reading her poetry live, having done so since 2003, and she has no qualms about sharing her personal writings with an audience.
“I used to teach so I am comfortable standing in front of people and reading,” she said. “I am not precious with my poetry, and I definitely write it to be shared.”
Having not been in front of an audience since February 2020 – her last reading was at the Lounge for Macmillan Jersey – Traci is “really excited” not only about performing again but also about having the opportunity to see “three really brilliant poets” perform.
She will be joined by Juliette Hart, co-founder of poetry collective La LaPoèt'tie; MarthaMacDonald, and Olivia Bouchard.
“I think people will be surprised at how entertaining poetry reading is,” Traci said. “It’s a bring your own booze event so people are encouraged to bring a bottle, or bottles.
“Martha’s style is very playful, my poems can be irreverent, Juliette is quite the performer and Olivia is really engaging with her spoken word. I think it will be quite a dramatic performance.
“I think there will be a lot of engagement with the audience, in that they will be engaging with the vibe, they won’t feel like they are being read to. It should be so much fun!”
Pictured: 'Love & Rebellion' can be seen until 13 June at the Berni Gallery.
There is only one week left to discover the work of Hautlieu School’s A-Level photography students at Jersey Arts Centre. ‘Love & Rebellion’ is a multi-media exhibition which includes films, photobooks, zines and prints and can be seen at the Berni Gallery until 13 June.
Their programme of study began in early June, a few days after the death of George Floyd in the USA which sparked ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests around the world as well as a local debate around the veneration of public statues representing controversial historical figures such as Jerseyman, Sir George Carteret who profiteered from the transatlantic slave trade – all of which were discussed in class.
Pictured: The multi-media exhibition includes films, photobooks, zines and prints.
The work presented also includes “snapshots of ordinary life alongside other more serious images showing teenagers coping with family, lockdown and isolation” - there are images depicting experiences of living at home with chronic illnesses, physical disabilities, mental health problems, as well as playful and optimistic glimpses of social interaction with friends, finding comfort fixing cars or listening to music, as photographer and teacher Martin Toft said.
“Photography is an excellent medium for recording the mundane and the banal, but within an insular context such vernacular images are rarely on display in public,” he said.
“The imagery presented here in a newspaper and exhibition is only a fragment of the enormous amount of work that each student has produced, but it provides a fascinating insight into how young people have used photography as a tool to explore and interpret real and imagined experiences – so extraordinarily amplified in a year of coronavirus where everything changed.”
Between Monday 7 and Thursday 10 June, Jersey Arts Centre will be celebrating Polish cinema with a series of film screenings.
For the eighth edition of the Polish Film Festival, the first film shown will be ‘Corpus Christi’ (Boze Cialo) on Monday. The 2019 film follows the story of Daniel, a young Polish man who experiences a spiritual awakening after finding himself in a juvenile detention centre.
A quirky film will follow on Tuesday with the 2009 dark comedy, Reverse (Rewers). On Wednesday, the Arts Centre will show ‘Gods’ (Bogowie), an award-winning drama based on a true story, which centers on a celebrated Polish cardiac surgeon, Zbigniew Religa, and his quest to complete the country’s first successful heart transplant.
The festival will conclude on Thursday with a romantic comedy, ‘Their Lucky Stars’ (Cale Szczescie), the story of single father and classical musician, Robert, and Marta, a famous fitness star.
All of the films will be screened at 19:00.
After releasing her first EP ‘Zillennial’ on 14 May, local musician Rebecca Lewis – aka Le Montais, a tribute to her great-great-grandmother, Ada Le Montais, who was born in Jersey in the mid-1800s – has released the final music video for the project.
Like the other videos released in the last year, ‘Black Sheets’ was filmed in the island by Rebecca’s childhood friend, Director Lucy Abraham. Will Robinson was Director Of Photography with Cleo Leather as his Assistant, while Christina Campagna was the stylist.
Writing about the song on her Instagram page, Rebecca said it was the only one that she had written a while ago.
“It’s the most personal and raw song I’ve ever written in my life, and I knew I wanted it to be the full stop to the ZILLENNIAL project,” she added. “Finishing this song has at times been a very painful process having to re-live past trauma, but I hope this song and this video will let people know that they’re not alone.”
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