Victoria Adukwei Bulley reads her poem Whim

Inspired by Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons, poet, writer and artist Victoria Adukwei Bulley joined us in the gallery to read her poem Whim.

Published in the exhibition’s companion catalogue, Victoria’s powerful words echo the themes at the heart of Rachel Jones’s work.

Whim.
I do not believe all that I think. I do not think it's useful to be drawn with solid edges, colors that don't leak into whatever lies beside. I want the world stained by what moves through it.
Cartoonish with glee and horror. Halos and angel wings and shadows that dance when a back is turned. Animals that talk in words audible to the human ear.
Animals that peel themselves off tarmac and fluff back out after the accident.
Such safety and so such play and all in time for bed. Blessed be our whims is what I say. When the wind picks up, turns the bins sideways, and the pot with the tulips, gorgeous in procarity, falls from the seal, killing no one, and making a clean sound. Be sharp, to be specific. Anything's a song and dance.
If only you'd. It doesn't happen often.
It doesn't happen every day, but still I have noted how sometimes the dog, he laughs when I whisper just to let me know that yes, he listens. He understands.