Heads Up

The  film above was made recently by Sarah Pickthall and Abbie Norris as part of a series called Heads Up as part of Arts Council England's Creative Case for Diversity. It features a few bits of my poetry, and some extracts from a performance of poems from The Dunno Elegies sequence in How I Learned to Sing.  

Colin Hambrook, editor of  www.disabilityartsonline.org.uk wrote a blog about the film which interestingly (for me at least) very much picks up on the connections between my poems and the other ideas in the film. Never has so much connection between my work and William Blake been made! But, seriously, as I thought about it, I realise Colin is spot in saying ‘For Robinson adapting to the world as it happens is a process of looking for the bigger picture in the detail’, and not just in my poetry but throughout my ‘thinking practice.’

I was pleased that the diversity of my own practice was built into their vision – including my poetry practice. (Thanks to Arc for letting us film a performance in their studio, by the way.) The bridges of Stockton come out of it well, as does the industrial imagery of Teesside, and there’s even a walk-on part for our cat, playing herself. Those who stay to the end will notice the soundtrack is music I made myself (not for this specifically, but for the poetry performance you see a glimpse of), and I will admit to being very pleased how that sounds.