“Where Does the Air Go?” marked the end of our first series of Poetry Minutes. I am in awe, and sit with deep gratitude to all of the collaborators and the Centre team for this curatorial experience.

We have witnessed various styles, themes, ideas and ways of making - each giving the text the space to perform. It has been a joy and an inspiration to work with all of the artists and each text.

Before curating the Poetry Minute my outlook on poetry was quite fixed, especially when it came to my own writing. In my view poetry had to be evocative, succinct, highly expressive or descriptive, with a solid rhythmical flow. These aren’t necessarily descriptors I would use for my own writing and far be it from me to actually utter the words ‘I am a poet’. But before me lay the task of poet-ing.

I set out to write something profound and beautiful. Instead, I wound up with arbitrary words sneaking into my mind out of nowhere and often out of context (as per usual). I eventually gave in to the words that were happening to me in place of the ones I had intended. As we gear ourselves up for Season 8, I’ve also had persistent thoughts around the provocation of ‘Breath/Breathing Again’: what is the quality of breath, what happens to it inside and outside of the body? I allowed these thoughts and the collage of phrases to thread themselves together. Somehow my haphazard process resulted in a piece that holds relevance (or is perhaps just an unconscious reflection) in these times of isolation, grief, self-confrontation and breathlessness.

WHERE DOES THE AIR GO?
Created by | Bongile Lecoge-Zulu
Cinematography and Editing by | Noah Cohen
Sound Recording & Mix by | Zain Vally