silent room a journey of language

Silent Room: A Journey of Language is a collaboration between poet and visual artist, Denise Saul, film maker Helmie Stil and individuals from Connect, the communication disability network. The project gives an insight into the regeneration of identity post onset of aphasia and language breakdown.

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Silent Room encourages greater arts participation from adults who have aphasia. Workshop participants use a variety of communication methods including gesture, writing and pictures to create poetry using film.

 

Denise Saul is an award-winning poet. Her White Narcissi (Flipped Eye Publishing), was Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice for Autumn 2007. She is the winner of the 2011 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize. Denise’s House of Blue (Rack Press) was PBS Pamphlet Recommendation for Summer 2012. She is currently a Poetry Book Society pamphlet reviewer and fellow of The Complete Works, a national development programme committed to creating more diversity in mainstream poetry publishing.

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Denise is a PhD candidate at University of Roehampton, researching the representation of speech disability in contemporary poetry. She is a member of the Stroke Forum at St. George’s Hospital, London and Wandsworth

Council’s Carers Forum.

 

Helmie Stil is the project’s film-maker. She is a director of Filmpoem, an artists’ moving image project. Helmie’s documentaries and film poems have been shown on international television and film festivals including SXSW film festival.

 

Emma Claire Sweeney is the project’s visiting workshop facilitator. She is an award-winning author and experienced workshop leader. Owlsong at Dawn, Emma’s debut novel, is inspired by her autistic sister and will be published by Legend Press in July 2016. Emma teaches creative writing at New York University - London and at City University. Her PhD investigated literary representations of disability.