Aimee-Rose Keppler x Alex Trovato

 Content warning: mention of paedophilia

Artwork by Alex Trovato

We've received quite a few poetry submissions lately and we thought it would be fun to make things a bit more collaborative, so we put out a call-out for a local visual artist to create some work in response to the poems. It was very interesting to see how the artists have interpreted the poems and taken inspiration from different elements and brought them into their own work. The above artwork was created by Alex Trovato in response to the following poems by Aimee-Rose Keppler. We will definitely be doing more of these collaborations in the future, so if you're a visual artist look out for any call-outs posted on our social media!

Alex Trovato is a visual artist who works with mixed mediums to capture storytelling through multi-faceted modes of communicating identity, understanding and belonging, with a language that does not exist with words. Her work builds on an energetic spiritual enquiry, executed by her three-step process of life experience, self-reflection and self-expression. This language can be witnessed via a problem-solving exploration of erratic mark-making developing into form. Find more of Alex's work on her Instagram @alextrovart

When asked about this collaboration, Alex said: 

I pulled out a lot of themes of fantasy, chemistry, intimacy and self-love from these poems- which are beautifully written. How I create my art is usually on a whim, and then later the meaning speaks to me. For this composition, the colourful waves across the two faces represent the intimacy one experiences with another person. Usually at first, the feelings are heightened and there's a lot of excitement. It runs across the two faces to hide and deflect the meaning attached to who these two people are. It's a play on that fluidity of meaning, a mystery as you're not supposed to know who they are, they're just there.

Aimee-Rose Keppler is a 19-year-old poet and opera singer. She has always had a special love for poetry and started writing when she was ten years old. Growing up, she went through two paedophile cases  and found that poetry and music were the only ways she could express her emotions fully. Her poetry is ultimately a window into her soul. Aimee-Rose's aim for writing poetry is to raise awareness for mental health and to raise her voice so that others may feel comfortable to do so as well. The subject matter is mainly about trauma, healing, love, nature and music.