out of CONtext

Michał Kamil Piotrowski is a visual poet, text artist, and curator living and working in Folkestone. He mostly writes experimental, visual, and technology-powered poetry. He enjoys making poetry interactive and he often works with found text. The themes he explores the most are technology, politics and mental illnesses. Recently, he’s been making poetic sculptures and installations. His first book, an interactive text ‘The Cursory Remix’ (2021, Contraband Books) has been co-written by Google Translate. His second experimental book ‘The Idiotlect Dicktionary’ was published by Veer in 2023. His TEDx talk ‘The Power of Experimentation: Poetry for the 21st Century’ is worth watching. @somecoolwords

T@M3R is a mixed-media artist based in South England. His work explores the relationship between memory and identity, and how our sense of self is being challenged and re-booted in a hyper-digital, hyper-connected age. He particularly enjoys creating immersive experiences at the intersection of art and science. As of this morning, he has no online or social media presence.

Sarah Lloyd is the founding director of Fourth Wall Folkestone. She is an artist, researcher and designer with a specialism in public engagement. Her work focuses mainly on the subject of mental health and she has worked in this field for almost 12 years. Sarah’s focus is on play, experimentation and the joy of the process. She likens her artistic process to cognitive behavioural therapy: deconstructing and reconstructing, revisiting and recycling images and ideas in an attempt to better understand them, rebuild and reimagine things. “It has been an absolute pleasure hosting the collective. The space feels so alive and it’s been inspiring working with such wonderful humans.” @sarahlloydcreative

While growing up in New Zealand, Penny Carlaw always loved the power of words, devouring book after book to explore new worlds. After doing a bit of exploring of her own, Penny has settled in the UK and still believes in the power of words to break systems and chains, while bringing both wisdom and hope. Until now, Penny has reserved her writing and poetry for friends and family, this is her first time sharing her words with the world. @thepennycarlaw

Helena Pastoriza-Tan was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian descent – and now lives between London and Folkestone. Her preferred medium is collage and her focus and interest in this work is in allowing oneself to celebrate one’s own identity without the shackles imposed on us by society.

Starting from a sculptural sensibility, Lili Spain’s artwork encompasses a diverse range of media including installation, photography and performance. She uses found objects, detritus and text to develop imagined, mythical histories of objects that are obsessively collected and re-worked to form hybrid art pieces. She often uses objects that have been discarded or neglected, breathing new life into them; creating mythologies developed through storytelling traditions and exploration of ritual. She draws reference from mythology, ecology, personal history and psychoanalysis. @lili__spain

Kate Clements is a livewire, needs to be constantly occupied and loves creating experimental poetry but not the writing of a bio. She’s a mother of four, student of politics, grower of vegetables, lover of nature. She’s interested in how other people’s perceptions of us construct who we are. IG: @katielemons73

Joanne Barrett is an autistic artist and poet working mainly in textiles and ceramics to create sculpture and visual poetry. She is a Bethlem gallery artist, a member of ELTA and has New Zealand, Irish and British heritage. @wen.frankartist