Toilet Doors Poetry was Red Room’s public space poetry project for 2006.  It displayed six illustrated Australian poems at a mix of Qantas domestic terminals, Greater Union and Village cinemas, nationally.

The poem posters replaced advertising with words and art by emerging Australian poets, using spaces that are very public and uniquely private.  From over 300 entries we selected poems by the following six poets:

Elizabeth Allen "Before tomorrow" - poster

Keri Glastonbury "subtle plague:" - poster

Andrew Slattery "The Glacier" - poster

Lisa Gorton "Occupation" - poster

Liam Ferney "Small days" - poster

Ed Wright "Hanami" - poster

The six poets were selected by Peter Boyle, Johanna Featherstone and Bonny Cassidy in consultation with our project partners - The City of Sydney, DesignWorks, Jacqui Geia, from JB Seeds Foundation, Qantas, The Letter Corporation and Greater Union and Village cinemas. Under the direction of DesignWorks the poems were illustrated by the following six artists:

Inari Kiuru

Samantha Denmark

Owen Swan

Matthew On

Jamie Fawdray

Sally Mazak

At Customs House on April 1st, Circular Quay, the live event featured the six poets reading their poems and a cubicled reading space built for the occasion.   The event also featured the inaugural Mineslec, Red Room's annual mini-essay-lecture to be commissioned annually from a poet and delivered to a live audience.  Queensland poet and critic Bronwyn Lea presented her thoughts on the topic of poetry and space.

The live recording of the poets was broadcast by the Community Radio Satellite in May 2006, and the poem posters were displayed at the following venues: Qantas domestic terminals – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth; Greater Union and Village cinemas in – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast, Perth and Adelaide.

Buy a set of the posters for your home, office, pub or friends!