JAY FARLEY
PERFORMANCE POET/DIGITAL ARTIST/FILMMAKER
Jay Farley is a non-binary, neurodivergent award winning filmmaker and digital artist. Discovering their Non-binary identity in 2022 aged 48 was profound and they found their voice as a performer and poet. Farley subsequently became award winning with ‘I Wish I’d Won the Miners’ Strike’, published in How it Started, Creative Futures Writers’ Award 2022 anthology. They are published in the Queer Icons anthology, Sparks, Hot Poets anthology and illustrated in Woop Woop magazine. Their debut book of poetry A [Cupboard] Full of Tomboys was created under the mentorship of TS.Elliot Award winning Joelle Taylor and published by Broken Sleep Books.
Jay’s mission extends beyond the screen and stage, reaching into the heart of communities. Jay’s journey as a filmmaker and poet is not just about personal expression; it’s about creating spaces for dialogue and connection. Each project is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, showcasing diverse narratives that challenge the status quo. Join us as we explore the intersections of identity, art, and activism, Together, we can inspire change and ignite conversations that matter.
Their debut poetry book A Cupboard Full of Tomboys is now available at the brilliant Broken Sleep Books
They are currently touring a live show version of the book accompanied with live music from @quieting_sounds. To book contact ClaireBigley@icloud.com.
Through the poetic and raw lens of a neurodiverse filmmaker, A [Cupboard] Full of Tomboys by Jay Farley navigates the intricate intersections of identity, gender, and class. This collection unfolds the journey of an older, working-class non-binary individual. With a cinematic and surreal texture, Jay uses words not only to validate their existence but also to unlock the transformative power of language itself. From the confines of the metaphorical cupboard to the expansive, defiant explorations of a new, queer world, Farley’s poetry challenges binaries, embraces fluidity, and crafts an unflinching celebration of lived authenticity.
PRAISE for A [Cupboard] Full of Tomboys:
This book is a bursting open of closet doors, a superb non binary encyclopaedia, more vital ammunition for the queer canon.
— Joelle Taylor
Dazzling, sprawling, gasping — these changeling poems fly at us, each a carnival rooted in poetry’s sense of creation and revolution. At their heart is an astonishing polyvocal experiment; a swirling crown that dares us to listen to “the sea inside” and the hidden geometries of worlds that land as softly as dandelion seeds, as powerfully as hurricanes.
— Andre Bagoo
A fast-moving stream of brilliance singing with the rhythms of Liverpool’s streets and the heart-strings of explosively lived experience.
— Chris McCabe
Jay Farley is an award-winning non-binary, queer, neurodiverse filmmaker/digital artist and performance poet working in and with diverse communities at FIRST TAKE, Liverpool @wearefirsttake. Jay’s work began as an international creative activist, fusing art and protest. In 2020 they discovered the language for being non-binary and language discovered them. Since then, they have been prolifically writing honest, radical, working-class poetry with great success. They feature in the @queerbods anthology QUEER ICONS, published by Broken Sleep as well as in the Hot Poets’ SPARKS anthology. They perform spoken word and have featured at events such as Homotopia’s NML Xtra at Museum of Liverpool. They were runner-up at their very first Poetry Slam at Liverpool’s Lovely Word Poetry Festival 2022 and went on to headline at Shakespeare North’s first SCRATCH Spoken Word event. They were commissioned by UNITY THEATRE @unitytheatre to perform BEYOND BINARY, their one-person show, as part of the UP NEXT Showcase in September 2022. They are currently working on their first pamphlet with the help of TS Elliot winner Joelle Taylor and hoping to tour their show in the second half of 2024.
Images taken from Beyond Binary Show at Unity Theatre 2022 By @lukebryantphoto
Poetry/music/dance films I directed, co directed and/or shot
Narative and Documentary films I co directed and/or shot as a DP