Artwork
As part of a project on Carcanet’s email archive, we worked with two artists, Mary Griffiths and Gregory O’Brien, who are connected with Carcanet, to produce creative responses to the collection.
Mary Griffiths’ practice begins with drawing and the close observation of urban, rural and industrial ecologies and architectures. These rapid figurative drawings are developed in the studio in graphite, ink, monoprint and paint. They are also the root of her abstract works, through which their essential geometries are rendered.
Mary requested access to email correspondence relating the posthumous publication of the poetry collection ‘A Responsibility to Awe’ by astrophysicist and poet, Rebecca Elson. Mary writes of her piece: In almost 10,000 emailed words Elson is mentioned by name only 130 times. My drawing will express these words in geometric form.
Gregory O’Brien is a curator, writer, and designer of covers for Carcanet’s journal, PN Review. He has edited numerous anthologies and art catalogues, and has written extensively about New Zealand culture.
Greg asked for access to the email of Scottish poet and novelist Frank Kuppner. Greg had heard that Frank once worked as an electrician, and he’s used excerpts from Michael Schmidt and Frank Kuppners email within the piece.