Amber Rollinson launches debut poetry and cyanotype collection

Amber Rollinson is a local artist, poet and copywriter, who is set to publish her debut pamphlet Somewhere, Looking with independent and socially conscious press, Broken Sleep Books.

Part poetry, part cyanotype, the collection explores sense of place and dislocation in contemporary society.

The cyanotype process involves the manipulation of images during exposure. Rollinson first discovered the technique in Bristol, and since beginning to write poetry a few years ago, has found the two forms not only to complement, but also to echo one another.

The Creek, from Somewhere, Looking – cyanotype: Amber Rollinson

“I think I’ve always thought in poems and seen the world in poems,” she reflects, “but hadn’t realised that until now.”

Rollinson sees the cyanotypes as narratives in their own right, and a vital component of the poetry-writing process.

As for the inspirations behind the works in Somewhere, Looking, there are far-flung corners of the world, but also plenty of landscapes much closer to Bristol and the south west.

Spoon from Somewhere, Looking – cyanotype: Amber Rollinson

“The landscapes local to Bristol have been an endless source of inspiration since I was a child,” Rollinson explains.

“I get to know a place by walking – I spend time, listen, and watch. I make scrawled notes and take photos to turn into hand-painted negatives that I expose in the sunlight – within the environment itself.”

The poems play with orientation, and the conflict between the poetic ‘I’ and the eco-poetical agenda. They interrogate the ways in which Rollinson found herself looking at different landscapes, “trying to interpret what was uninterpretable, and just out of reach”.

Shoreline, from Somewhere, Looking – cyanotype: Amber Rollinson

Coming to poetry relatively recently, and working in such an experimental way has been revelatory for Rollinson, who has been warmly welcomed into Bristol’s flourishing poetry scene. It’s an exhilarating place to be.

“All over the city people are writing, exploring new ideas, and making their mark,”she point out. “You’ll get people putting their poems to music, people collaborating with digital artists, people walking the line between rap and spoken word.

“The other poets are so supportive, so willing to hear your perspective and experience of the world. It’s a city that is willing to discover, to challenge, and experiment – and that’s probably what makes the poetry scene here so exciting to explore.”

The Seals, from Somewhere, Looking – cyanotype: Amber Rollinson

Archaeology

There’s the millpond, one of only
waterlogged sites nationally to retain
metal-detecting at dawn before
they wake up, the people who live there now

watching me part soil with spade
metallic remains retaining the structure
I want to see sixteenth century
situating in corn-stubble
myself in claggy earth who names me

The canal took the powder back to the battles
I have designs on those battles, smoke
sweeping concentration of cries

I hear canons when I sleep, something
passed, limestone sediment
in the fields where I have to stay
faces appearing, who threaten me off
off – off

wake up, see me, crouched among crows
on dark fields stark
mineral, clear

John love, he’s by the barns.

Coins from someone’s pocket, up to me
caught searching for signs

The chase and the return, no slip
to read waterlogs of wet pages

unloved pages
drying in my hands.

The cornfield just off the main road

Mountains, from Somewhere, Looking – cyanotype: Amber Rollinson

Amber Rollinson: Somewhere, Looking is published by Broken Sleep Books on June 30. It can be preordered now.

Main photo: Amber Rollinson

Read more: Poet Kathryn O’Driscoll launches her debut collection

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