Sarah St Vincent Welch

About the work

I chalk poetry on footpaths and talk to passersby in an ephemeral practice called #litchalk. In Canberra Art Biennial 2024 #litchalk will be on the edge of Lake Burley Griffin near Lennox Gardens, The Beijing Garden and Nara Peace Park on two weekends. #litchalk responds to landscape, Country, people and histories. I offer a gentle surprise in the regulated space of Canberra as capital, the layered meanings of its design, its everyday and the Biennial itself. The poems may linger or may be quickly washed away. I post photos and timelapses of the poems on Instagram and Facebook and am supported by photographer, filmmaker, creative partner and spotter, Dylan Jones.  Poems are shaped over months as I wander and experience the place, but they find their final form only as I chalk them.

Image credits to Dylan Jones

About the artist

Sarah St Vincent Welch is a writer and image maker known for chalking her poetry on footpaths at arts festivals. Her heart belongs to two cities, Canberra where she lives, and Sydney where she grew up. Her ‘chalk borders’ (Flying Island Books 2021) and #litchalk received a Canberra Circle of Critics Award. Her poem ‘Marion’ won a Canberra City of Design Poetry Award in 2018. She has published short stories, written novellas, and is currently working on a creative non-fiction (supported by artsACT) on suicide in Australia. Her ‘Kindred Trees’ project is celebrated every Canberra Tree Week in a poetry reading at Smith’s Alternative. Every year she commissions local poets to respond to a Canberra tree, and their poems are published on a website designed by Lawren Wooding – kindredtrees.com.au.