Robert Montgomery was chosen to work with on this project because of his monumental evocative light poems that deeply resonate with the spirit of the local community. It started with a series of creative writing workshops, hosted by the artist, that were open to all in Somers Town. The words in the five light installations are a result of the work produced during these sessions, transforming community narratives into accessible public art, and making residents' voices part of the urban landscape
“ I once imagined a city where people write their dreams in neon lights and hang them outside their windows each morning, so that when you woke and took the bus to work, you could ride through the city and see everyone’s dreams in neon in the dawn light. This project is the closest I’ve got to that dream. When I was commissioned to do this piece, I said I didn’t want to write the poems myself, I wanted to write with the community and the people who live in the buildings of the Somers Town estate. So we huddled together and we scrawled words on paper and canvas, and I was really only the editor of the lines of poetry that emerged from our conversations and our collective unconscious.”
- Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery is a Scottish-born, London-based contemporary artist and poet. He is renowned for his large-scale light works using words and poetry installed in public spaces. He is also well known for his billboard poems, fire poems, woodcuts, paintings and watercolours.
The distinctly lyrical voice of his visual poetry invites us to reconnect with nature, offering a moment of introspection in an ever more hurried world. By transforming these spaces of spectacle and passive consumption into portals of poetic inspiration, he provided a therapeutic and spiritual space for reflection.
For Montgomery, the slowness of words commands our attention, inviting a moment of introspection. Inspired by the power of street art as an energising and democratising force, his works capture an interior voice that resonates with humanity and is accessible to all.
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