MAYA REGNIER
WELCOME TO AN ARTICLE ON MARC NAIR'S INSPIRATION AND HIS EFFECT ON THE COMMUNITY
MARC NAIR'S BACKGROUND
His Story
Marc Nair; poet, spoken word performer and photographer visited the UWCE Grade 9 students on the 22nd of January. Marc Nair performs and shares his art internationally as well as here in Singapore performing at TEDx, Gardens by the Bay and being a finalist in the 2010 poetry slam. In 2016, Marc Nair proudly received the Singaporean Young Artists award along with 4 other artists. Nair comes from different backgrounds and the traditions and cultures he was brought up in converted him into a very diverse person, influencing his work as his different cultures were an inspiration for his poems. Marc Nair has now published 7 total volumes, full of poetry and photography his latest book being Intersection with 24 poems within.
Marc Nair
“You forge your own path, and when you look back, the jungle has closed up, and there isn’t a way to return. You just have to go forward, in search of that elusive moment when light breaks the foliage and you see the landscape open like a new story in front of you.”
MARC NAIR'S PHOTOGRAPHY
Black and White Gallery
LINKING HIS 2 ART FORMS
Photography and Poetry
Nair believes in linking his two art forms together to form one piece of art that rely on each other to be comprehended, admired and appreciated. His poems are a verbal representation of his photos, and his photos are a visual representation of his poems. Marc Nair’s poem themes vary widely, some humorous, ironic and horrific. They all have different purposes and audiences. All written down with different techniques that evoke different emotions. Often his purposes, are to teach his readers an important life lesson or to simply entertain. Marc targets young adults, with his use of comedy perfectly suited for his target audience.
POETRY TECHNIQUES
In the crowded UWC auditorium, Nair presented three of his many poems titled ‘Pan-Asian’, ‘10 Syrians’ and ‘Plastic Pelago’. He displayed his photos as well as his poems, showing his audience of inquisitive Grade 9’s how his two art forms linked. Marc Nair uses a wide range of surprising techniques to make his work appeal to his audience. For example, his poem ‘Plastic Pelago’, bursts with humor, irony and sarcasm with a tint of seriousness. ‘Plastic Pelago’ mentions the rising problem of increasing amounts of plastic being thrown into the ocean annually. Marc Nair writes with a unique viewpoint, his words full of sarcasm as he talks about how great it would be to live on a plastic island with plastic houses, plastic roads, and plastic trees.
POETRY TECHNIQUES
Nair prominently uses connotation and imagery to engage his audience and create an emotional and dramatical bond with the reader such as talking ironically and sarcastically even though the situation at hand is very serious. People start to listen more as you try to understand the poet’s viewpoint on the matter. Marc Nair uses humour and irony with a lesson behind it, so that his audience is more interested in reading the beautifully crafted stanzas. On the contrary to Marc Nair’s other humorous poems, ‘10 Syrians’ has a very dark story behind it. ‘10 Syrians’ elaborates on how being a Syrian seeking refuge is an absolutely horrifying life-threatening experience. Nair introduces the reader to the daily horrors Syrians have to face in order to survive.
Marc Nair
"There are stories everywhere, and I feel I have a duty to find a way to tell them, whether it is through poetry, photography or song."
INFLUENCE AND INSPIRATION
Marc Nair’s inspiration for his passion commenced at a young age when his mother would recite nursery rhymes for him. Nair developed an instant connection with the words and started to memorise them. This was the start of his making of words becoming sentences, and his sentences becoming poems. “I read a lot of fiction when I was growing up, and that expanded the landscape of my imagination by leaps and bounds”, this was truly his first inspiration to start doing what he loved. Marc Nair believes that there are stories all around us, and his only job is to take those stories and tell them to the world through lines and stanzas or visual representations such as photography.
MARC NAIR'S EFFECT ON THE COMMUNITY
UWC Community
The powerful effect Marc Nair’s poems and photography has on his audience is an important factor to his art. Marc Nair’s effect on the onlookers is “a glimpse in the moment” frozen in time where the reader can take time to understand the subjective art form and understand the purpose and the specific details etched into his artwork. Marc Nair reminds us to be attentive to things that are happening in our world and to make the world ours; a place where we want to live. The UWC values state that we should act with integrity, be compassionate, help other people and take interest and enjoy friendships with people of all cultures and background. The purpose being his poems and photography reminds the UWC community to keep with our values, keep our visions in mind and keep doing what truly, makes us smile.