Collection: Opal L. Nations

Opal L. Nations (b. Brighton, 1941) was a British poet, singer, illustrator, editor, and publisher. Founder of Strange Faeces Press, a press dedicated to avant-garde poetry, stories, and drawings, his work crossed conceptual art, mail art, illustration, and performance poetry. His poetry is described as non-narrative, concrete, and absurdist.

Nations was a central figure in the experimental poetry and small-press network of 1970s London, producing mimeographed, wire-stitched publications through Transgravity Press and Strange Faeces Press, often in editions of around 200 copies. His bibliography records hand-etched stencil drawings, cheap paper, direct image, local address, and underground circulation as the material conditions of his publishing practice.

Items in this section include posters, flyers, and printed matter from Nations’ publishing activity — objects from the point where poetry, drawing, announcement, performance, and distribution occupy the same surface.