The series focuses on the Beat Generation as a cultural phenomenon, more specifically in the women poets who participated in the movement and who historically have had less visibility than their male colleagues. It is a tribute to those women poets, who have remained in the shadow in the history of literature. Beatnik is the derogatory term with which the conservative American society nicknamed the poets of the so-called Beat Generation, and therefore is the title of this series.
When asked why there were no women poets in the so-called Beat Generation, Gregory Corso responded: “There were women, they were there, I knew them, their families locked them up in mental hospitals. Someday someone will write about them.”
Each piece is inspired by the poems and lives of these eight authors: Lenore Kandel, Diane Di Prima, Mary Norbert Körte, Denise Levertov, Hettie Jones, Carolyn Cassady, Anne Waldman, and Elise Cowen.
The full series is composed of 8 pieces. Traditional collage made by hand with material found without retouching or digital redimensions. Size: 65×95 cm
You’ll find the details here.
Robin Rule says
Thank you to Empty Mirror for displaying the work of collagist Rebeka Elizegi. Elizegi’s inclusion of Mary Norbert Korte in the halls of women Beat writers is important in that Korte’s work spans many schools while entrenched in the classical with a Beat voice. Mary also was the other half of Mendocino County’s Rainy Day Women Press, a small poetry publishing house I started when I won a Fellowship in poetry from the California Arts Council. We primarily put out broadsides by local poets because it was becoming a dying art and many of the younger poets hadn’t even heard of the term. We started up RDWPress in 1982 and by the early nineties Mary had the opportunity to work from home and eventually retire on her Land where she continues to write everyday. And thank you to Denise Enck for the 2012 article on Mary as well!