The First Poets

As part of the Meet me at the River exhibition by Migrant artist Mutual Aid (MaMa). Artist, writer, and researcher Jennifer Verson will be facilitating a spoken word workshop. Participants will have a chance to write and share new spoken word pieces inspired the exhibition.

The First Poets written and performed by Jennifer Verson, the opening of the immersive sound scape is inspired by The Last Poets’ Invocation, a track on the album Holy Terror, released in the 1990s. The Last Poets are groups of black musicians and poets, born from the American civil rights movement in the 1960s and considered to be the forefathers of hip-hop. The piece imagines MaMa as The First Poets creating a new language for Europe.