You will be phlebotomised of your utility,

Shorn from within of fleecy tradition until

Assimilation has left hoarfrost on your lips

And ceramic cladding has you cleaved from the earth

Esther Koch, 2023

Paradise Works is pleased to present Hoarfrost On Our Lips, a group exhibition exploring itself through the medium of poetry, curated by Will Marshall.

Salford based poet Esther Koch responds to the artworks of Yelena Popova, Catriona Robertson, Madi Acharya-Baskerville and John-Paul Brown through series of newly commissioned poems. Displayed within the exhibition, these texts will act as a means to interpret the show, and explore and build upon the complex and subtle range of ideas the artists deal with in their work, including: environmentalism and sustainability, materiality and the Anthropocene, visual language and symbolism, migration and movement, the ocean and the land, physicality and architecture, and personal relationships to the earth.

This exhibition is supported by Arts Council England.