An award-winning local poet, photographer and writer has released a collection of poems and images.
Janet Lees has published ’House of Water’, which features her collection of photography and poetry that was originally exhibited at the Lorient festival of Celtic music and culture last year.
Janet also displayed the photographs at the former Noa Bakehouse during the autumn.
The book is a striking bringing together of images and the written word.
'"House of Water" is the pairing of the images and the poems that I took to Lorient and also had up in Douglas, plus some additional poems and pictures that I really liked too.
’During the Noa exhibition, I had the poems printed out in a pile, and people could pick them up and read them if they wanted to.
’In the Lorient exhibition, the poems were hung alongside the pictures, which made it more obvious which poem should go with which image.
’With the book, there is one image on a page, with a poem facing it, which makes each one connected in very obvious way.’
Janet admits that it is quite unusual to have a book of poems accompanied by relating imagery, preferring either the images or poems to stand out for themselves.
However, Janet believes that the images and poems can give added context and meaning to each other.
’It is unusual to have the two together,’ she said.
’But I wanted to put them both out together. I have the same feeling of energy about the images as I do about the words. To me, they just go together, and I can’t separate them.
’What I have done is chosen an image to go along with the poem, or vice versa, that have the same feeling for me, whether it is a spiritual or even emotional feeling, and a connection between the two may not necessarily be obvious.
’If I was writing about one subject, it wouldn’t necessarily show in the image directly, so they are quite a subtle pairing.
’All the poems stand on their own, I think, and the images also stand on their own.
’But when you put them together, they go somewhere else. Each brings something else to the other.
’You can look at the images, or read the poems, or do both. I don’t think they are distracting.’
Janet’s book has won praise from many acclaimed authors, and also from the musician Beth Orton, who became a fan of Janet’s work after they chatted over social media.
’Beth’s music is one of my inspirations,’ said Janet.
’I love her music and I love her lyrics and the feeling that runs through her stuff. ’She was a person who I genuinely wanted to hear what she thought.
’Thankfully, she really loved it.’
’House of Water’ is available now, priced £12.50.
by MIke Wade
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