sample text
an old blog post about the official zine of Pollyverse: “sample text”. The post has been newly updated, because sample text lives on, and there’s always more to come.
Today I would like to share with you all the wonderful world of sample text.
What started as my attempt at a very niche, self made digital zine has now finally found some kind of a home on Instagram. The original inspiration for sample text of course came from seeing those two beautiful words constantly popping up on video editing software, photoshop and the many other places online that I’m sure you have encountered also if you happen to use a computer a lot. At first what I wanted to do was prove to myself that I could create an original zine from scratch, with experimental poetry, stories, and equally eccentric art. This all took place during the peak of Luke Thurogood and I’s collaborative efforts in England. sample text became a portal into Pollyverse, through stories and poems from the very characters of Pollyverse themselves.
I only ever made one volume of it, and it entirely featured pieces by Luke and myself, both as ourselves, and as our characters from Pollyverse stories. I was still dipping my toes into the writing world at that point, so making a zine gave me a perfect opportunity to find some kind of a voice and rhythm. I was very much into photoshop at the time as well, so I created a lot of digital art to go along with the texts, and then volume one of sample text came to be. I sent it to a small group of friends who showed interest, and for each copy I created a personalised page for the reader.
After the release of volume one, sample text died. It had served its purpose for me, and I was content with what was done, while also lacking the motivation to do more. But I couldn’t help feeling that there was potential for something else there. After about a year I tried writing, planning, and creating digital art for a new volume. I wanted to involve other writers and artists too, but other projects got in the way and I once again lost the motivation to create it. There was no clear goal or format. Now though sample text finally feels like it has a home; among the tragic, beautiful, and dramatic world of Instagram poetry, and art.
sample text is a place where I can sporadically outlet some of my stranger thoughts and creations, in a post by post format - somewhat aesthetically of course. This method has made it easier to collaborate with individuals on these singular little posts; where they can platform and share their creativity with a small section of the online world, without it even necessarily being attached to their name, if they so wish. The original ethos of sample text being a portal to Pollyverse, still stands as an aesthetic mantra, but really it is just a place where people can have a voice to share something weird and wonderfully creative with me.
This is sample text. It is still very new in this format and finding its feet, but check it out if alternative Instagram art and poetry interests you, and please send a message to me over there to collaborate in the future. Also, due to renewed ideas, and an over abundance of art and poetry; keep your eyes here on the Pollyverse Library, for in the future we plan to bring back a new, themed format of the sample text zine volumes. As always though, thank you for reading, and keep on creating.