Birds with No Passports

John Brown

1 June-27 July Exhibition

JOHN BROWN is a poet, visual artist and editor from Limavady who lives in Belfast. He worked as Literary Arts Officer for The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, organised the Belfast Literary Festival Between the Lines, and published many poetry collections and anthologies. These include As the Crow Flies, Where the Cow Lies Down, Islands, Magnetic North, and In the Chair: Interviews with Poets. His latest book W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Fine Art explored how writers are inspired by paintings and sculpture. As a visual artist John has exhibited for over twenty years in the Fenderesky Gallery and the Model Arts Gallery (Sligo) and curated exhibitions in the Netherlands and Ireland. His work is in many private collections and the ACNI arts collection.

EXHIBITION/TALK

In this new exhibition and book of poems, Birds with No Passports, John explores the differences between birds and humans. How birds and humans differ in dealing with love, death, migration, borders, ecology and how their rituals, rites of passage and language differ is at the core of this exhibition and book. With humour John punctures the notion that just because humans do not have bird brains and do have language they are far more intelligent than birds. John asks simple questions that are difficult to answer. Can humans make birdsongs? Can birds speak a language?

The exhibition includes drawings, collage, mixed-media works and sculpture from found objects to capture real and invented birds. At the opening on Saturday 1st June (3.00pm) John will launch his new book and give a short reading/introduction to the art work.