This summer the Whitworth presents John Lyons: Carnivalesque, the first major retrospective of the work of artist and poet John Lyons (b.1933, Trinidad). Surveying six decades of Lyons’ contribution to British art, literature and art education, the exhibition centres on his exploration of Trinidadian folklore and mythology through painting and poetry.
Throughout his practice, Lyons invites us to enter into a shared ‘creative continuum’ with him, discovering and negotiating meaning in his work through the lens of our own lives and experiences.
In this spirit, the Whitworth and Manchester Poetry Library have commissioned two poets, Carlton Rose and Elkanah Wilder, to produce their own creative responses to the exhibition. Join us to hear them debut their new work and explore the exhibition through poets’ eyes.
The evening also includes a performance by artist and curator Nikita Gill reflecting on how carnivalesque ways of working inform her creative practice, and a poets’ panel discussion reflecting on John Lyons’ contribution to the Manchester poetry scene during the 1980s and 90s.
Biographies:
Carlton Rose is a poet from Wolverhampton. Exploring themes of Black British identity, religion, masculinity and fatherhood, his recent work attempts to skew narrative and blur reality. A former secondary school teacher of over 10 years, Carlton is a voluntary director of South Manchester Credit Union. He lives in Chorlton with his wife and two daughters. Carlton’s work has appeared in the Poetry Review, Magma, Ambit, Under the Radar and various other publications.
Elkanah Wilder is a Black trans masculine poet and multidisciplinary creative from West Yorkshire. His passion is rooted in poetry as a transformative outlet to archive life and the shifting paradigms of identity. Their work seeks to speak the unspoken, channel the confessional, and interrogate multifaceted sociopolitical oppressions from a queer and disabled lens. Lately, Elk has been preoccupied by what it means to care, to love, to desire and to resist. @ElkanahWilder
Nikita Gill advocates for art in Northern England, using Carnivalesque praxis to joyfully disrupt colonialism. Nikita’s experiences as an artist and curator are led by her neurodiverse experiences, she is dedicated to nurturing empathy for the people she works and dreams with. Nikita’s practice explores collective cultures through a Queer, Decolonial lens, presenting resistance as healing, and she aims to create new ways of being ‘other’. Nikita enjoys working with her family and other artists to explore Carnivalesque theory and contemporary Afro-Caribbean and British culture. Nikita, who is Barbadian-Kittitian, plays Mas with WeR1 Mas Band in Manchester.
Find out more about the Whitworth’s current exhibition John Lyons: Carnivalesque and Manchester Poetry Library.
