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What is a broadside?Historically, a broadside was an announcement, a notice, a leaflet, usually nailed to a post or a wall on the streets. A royal proclamation, an official notice, a political commentary - its origins date back to the 15th century to the invention of moveable type. A broadside, by definition, is a sheet of paper with a printed message on one side only.
It had often been used as a tool in educating and supporting revolutionary, literary, social and political movements. Historically, it began as a form of street literature. Sometimes, they were used as vehicles for opposition of authoritarian rule or political resistance. |
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In the 16th century, poems and ballads adopted this process, which today, has become an art form using the letterpress printing process of moveable type of the 15th century. Its origins may have been military or political, but the literary world has adopted it as a medium to take a poem out of the closed pages of a book and open it to be more of a public, communal or visual form of art.
My first poem, Hieroglyph, is an homage to what it means to be a woman. Specially printed as an archival pigment print, the image I chose to describe the beauty and soul of a woman was a painting called THE SPIRIT OF ECSTASY, taken from its namesake, the Rolls Royce hood ornament - A statue of a woman standing in an almost a yogic pose. Her arms reach back and above her, the billowy fabric of her dress flows like wings. Her face is raised towards the sky. She personifies the epitome of grace, her gaze fixed forward, as if she sees the future, and looks as though she will arrive there with intention. She is passionate yet mysteriously silent. |
There is an ageless beauty about her, a confidence, a faith in what she sees before her eyes, strength, wisdom and power. Harnessing great energy, she projects forward much like the figureheads of the prow that lead a ship to magnificent adventures. In many cultures, these magical statues were believed to possess spirits that guarded the ship from storms and dangerous winds and guided the ship to treasures beneath the ocean to a life of joy, magic and victory. She embodies the perfection of the human soul. She is The Spirit of Ecstasy. That is my definition of a woman.
Framed and signed Broadsides of both poems are available 26" x 21."
Framed and signed Broadsides of both poems are available 26" x 21."
