All ways fire she gives
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Research Statement
Research Background
All ways fire she gives is a poetic essay by Dr Jo Pollitt created as an invited response to Amanda Bells work in the John Stringer Prize, 2022 and published by Westerly. Developed through embodied, place-based writing, the essay engages with memory fragments, site-specific reflection, and intertextual connections with artworks by Amanda Bell and Bruno Booth. Moving between Katanning and Kaarta Koomba, and between text and performance, the work is enriched by two invited live readings at the John Curtin Gallery and launch of Westerly Vol 68.
Research Contribution
All ways fire she gives introduces an innovative mode of poetic scholarship, enacting care as a method of composition, performance, and inquiry. By blending writing, response methodology and live performance, the essay extends feminist, ecopoetic and anti-colonial approaches, grounded in assemblage and sensory presence. The live readings at John Curtin Gallery and Westerly launch deepened its impact, transforming the essay into a site of reflection and exchange. This interplay between embodied writing and performance extends the reach of the work, inviting active engagement and shared experience.
Research Significance
Publication in Westerly, a prominent literary journal renowned for showcasing regionally significant writing, signals the essay’s excellence and cultural relevance. The approach embeds embodied scholarship with poetic experimentation and positions all ways fire she gives as a model of creative research, influencing practices across writing, performance, and feminist scholarship and making it a vital contribution to ongoing conversations in academia and the arts. Pollitt was invited as one of five WA writers to respond to the John Stringer Prize finalists and First Nations curator and artist Amanda Bell’s response to the work was ‘Moorditj’ meaning ‘great, strong and good’ in Noongar.
Non-Traditional Research Output
Original Creative Work
Document Type
Non-Traditional Research Output
Date of Publication
2023
Location of the Work
John Curtin Gallery
Volume
68
Issue
1
Publication Title
Westerly
Publisher
The University of Western Australia
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Centre for people, Place and Planet
RAS ID
82731
Event Dates
9th November 2022
Event Venue
John Curtin Gallery
Duration
2 x performance reading, 1 x poetic prose
First Page
47
Last Page
49
Comments
Pollitt, J. (2023). All ways fire she gives. Westerly, 68 (1), 47-49.