OB1 Poetry Anthology #SoftLads

Artist's publication with community poets in Worcester by Oliver Bliss in partnership with The Word Association

This first limited-edition book is the result of a series of creative writing workshops with visual artist, Oliver Bliss and Holly Winter-Hughes of The Word Association CIC – exploring gender, identity and self-worth through Oliver Bliss’ new art series #SoftLads.

For the past two years, Oliver has been creating a series of tapestries focusing on portraits of tattooed males to explore male identity. Oliver and Holly invited members of the public to experience the work for themselves, and with guidance to create poems and pieces of prose in response to the work and the themes explored.

The workshops took place at the Henry Sandon Hall in Worcester, and the Stryx Gallery in Birmingham as part of SHOUT Festival Of Queer Arts And Culture. The workshops allowed people the chance to experience the artworks, talk to the artist about the work and explore the themes from the work through a series of gentle writing exercises.

The book includes over 30 creative writing responses, has two critical essays and full colour picture panels of each of the tapestries

“Do I have to sacrifice the softness to be read as strong?” - Harry Wyld, workshop participant.