π.O.

The Tour stands as a chronicle of the difficulties and triumphs of performance poetry, of which Pi.O. was one of the pioneers, long before it became the popular form it is today.

An epic poem about history, painting, painters, patrons – from Louis Buvelot to Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton to Vassilieff, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, the Boyds, Mirka Mora, and Albert Namatjira, with a particular focus on the artists gathered around Sunday and John Reed at Heide in Melbourne. Heide is about the Australian preoccupation with landscape, the dominance of a masculinist aesthetic, the sidelining and denigration of Indigenous art, the struggle of women artists to assert their influence and presence, and the impact of migration on Australian culture. It is a long poem made up of almost 300 poems, each bringing to life characters and incidents that are fleshed out in vivid detail and with a dramatic intensity unique in Australian poetry.