Blank Media Collective

BlankPages: Issue 23

Blank Pages Issue 23 Download blankpages: Issue 23

Featured Track

Our featured track this month is Lucid by The Ruby Electric

blankpages is getting in the mood for summer with our feature on Imploding Acoustic Inevitable Festival in Fell Food Wood near Windermere in the Lake District. Folk and Experimental music sit next to spoken word on the bill – it promises to be an intimate showcase of what the North West underground scene has to offer.

We're also visiting Affleck's Palace in Manchester this month to talk to illustrator David Bailey, who runs Good Grief! An independent eclectic little shop specialising in books and various artists' merchandise.

This month's poetry originates in Iran. Ali Abdolrezaei now lives in London, and his poetry reflects this sense of detachment. His interesting phrasing has been translated here by Abol Froushan. Kasey Szavai's fiction deals with detachment of a different kind, and  the popular theme of transformation through artistic practise.

This month's mp3 comes with a fascinating interview with The Ruby Electric, having just completed their debut release 'The Future Sessions EP'. The selected track from that recording is called 'Lucid'; it's a funky, upbeat electronic affair.

In contrast, our cover artist this month, Chris Leyland, has taken found objects to a gruesome extreme. His arranged animal remains are beautifully photographed and stir up many questions; not least of the fate of these beasts, but also of the artist and the viewer of the work. Very powerful, and controversial.

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Issue 23 Featured Artists

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    Chris Leyland

    Chris Leyland is a visual artist living in Wigan. Graduating in photography from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2000, the last three years have seen his arts practice develop. He has been prize winner in both The Sefton Open and The Waterside Open and took part in a group show at The Waterside, Sale.

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    Ali Abdolrezaei

    Ali Abdolrezaei was born in 1969 in Northern Iran. He began his professional poetic career in 1986 and became one of the most serious and contentious poets of the new generation of Persian poetry. He has fourteen books of poetry and two more are about to be published. Both have received diverse critical reviews. In September 2002 after his protest against heavy censorship of his latest books ('So Sermon of Society' and 'Shinema') he was banned from teaching and public speaking. He left Iran and after staying a few months in Germany, followed by two years in France, he moved to London, where he has been for the last three years.

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    Kasey Szavai

    Kasey Szavai is an English and Creative Writing student at Manchester Metropolitan University. Previously Kasey has had short stories published in various Hungarian magazines and MMU student magazine Scholar. Also Kasey has had non-fiction articles published in DIVA and online magazine Zoosh.

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    The Ruby Electric

    Gemma and Kathie met at the School of Sound Recording on the brilliant Wiseamp course which taught them to use Cubase and Protools and press lots of buttons in the recording studio. They pooled their resources and started putting together "Smoking Ghost Studio". Sarah-Lou at Futureworks heard their stuff and wanted to record an EP with them, and after much recording and touching the same buttons Muse have touched, the 'Future Sessions EP' arrived!

Send Us Your Work!

We are always looking for new voices to feature in blankpages, our monthly online magazine.

To submit work to blankpages simply join Blank Media and select the "Publish in blankpages" option when you add work to your Portfolio or drop as an email using the form below. Please read the Submission Guidelines before submitting your work.

Having problems with the form or want to submit more than one piece of work? Email us directly at editor@blankmediacollective.org.

blankpages Team

  • Editor: John Leyland
  • Assistant Editor: Abigail Ledger-Lomas
  • Fiction Editor:
  • Poetry Editor:
  • Music Editor: Baz Wilkinson
  • Features Editor: Sarah Handyside
  • Features Editor: Rebecca Owens
  • Visual Editor / Designer: Michael Thorp

We would love to hear what you think about blankpages - drop us an email and let us know at editor@blankmediacollective.org.