Tyler Turner
My involvement with the Junction Arts This Girl Codes project started back in 2020 when I attended the Atomic Poems workshop run by Hannah Cooper-Smithson. Two years later, I would find myself involved with the project again, but this time as a workshop facilitator.As a Creswell native, it was truly magical sharing my experiences and stories with everyone involved, from a place that holds such historical and personal significance. It was a dream come true to deliver a workshop from inside not one, but two caves at Creswell Crags. During the Heritage Hack Lab, we entered Robin Hood’s Cave and shared stories about the witch marks. We then moved across to Mother Grundy’s Parlour and performed an exercise that helped us connect to our senses. This inspired a creative writing session where we produced our own spell poems with various intentions behind them, including protection and abundance. Witchcraft and magic are big interests of mine, so to share this with others and to be met with such enthusiasm and creativity is magical in itself.I also grew a lot creatively during my time on this project. Technology is not a theme that crops up in my work often, but working alongside Cora Glasser has been an eye-opening experience that has inspired me to experiment with new and exciting ideas. During our sessions together at the Heritage Hack Lab and the Curiosity Academy, we produced more spell poems and created our own sigils, which we then brought to life through sound. I was further inspired by the trip to Bletchley Park, to which I was kindly invited along. There, I became quite infatuated with the Hollerith Machine and later found a virtual keypunch online that I have been obsessively punching poems into since (see the result below). Tech really is everyday magic!It has been such a rewarding experience working alongside Cora, the Junction Arts team, and, of course, the inspiring participants who have contributed to this project. I’m looking forward to experiencing the results at the exhibition later this month!
Here is my poem, inspired by my time at Creswell Crags: Mother Grundy’s Parlour by Tyler TurnerSun sinks into the cleft at the end of the gorge,pursed between limestone lips. Evening dusts the lake still,a reflected moon thickens on its surface. The parlour sighs at the cliff’s crotch,its mouth stitched shut with iron thread. Mother Grundy, hemmed inside herself,is anchored by an umbilical stalagmite. They embroidered her mucus-slick walls,needled her with hammer and chisel so that she’d never conceive again.The virgin, Mother to none and to all time carefully unpicks
Hollerith PoemInspired by our This Girl Codes research trip to Bletchley Park, I became quite interested in the Hollerith Machine and have found an online replicator that allows you to play around with a virtual keypunch! I punched my Mother Grundy poem above into it and love how it combines the themes of coding and turning words into images through technology.
