Sam Duckor-Jones

Duckor-Jones grew up in Wellington, in a Jewish family.{{Cite news |date=2022-01-21 |title='Quiet fabulosity': remote New Zealand church gets pink makeover to celebrate queer community |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/quiet-fabulosity-remote-new-zealand-church-gets-pink-makeover-to-celebrate-queer-community |first=Eva |last=Corlett |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=The Guardian}} His father is the New Zealand author, Lloyd Jones, and his brother is Avi Duckor-Jones, who won season one of Survivor NZ.{{Cite news |last=Manson |first=Bess |date=2018-01-26 |title=Lloyd Jones' latest book born out of human suffering |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/100677278/lloyd-jones-latest-book-born-out-of-human-suffering |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=Stuff}}{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Lloyd |date=2017-07-07 |title=Lloyd Jones: My son Avi, the winner of Survivor NZ |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/07-07-2017/lloyd-jones-my-son-avi-the-winner-of-survivor-nz |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=The Spinoff}} He is the nephew of businessman and politician Sir Bob Jones.{{Cite news |date=2009-01-31 |title=Bob and Lloyd Jones |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/profiles/35726/Bob-and-Lloyd-Jones |first=Adam |last=Dudding |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=Sunday Star Times}}

Duckor-Jones lived in Featherston for many years, relocating there from Wellington because of the more affordable rent to live and have a studio.{{Cite web |date=2018-07-01 |title=People from Featherston stand up - poet and sculptor Sam Duckor Jones |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018651677/people-from-featherston-stand-up-poet-and-sculptor-sam-duckor-jones |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=RNZ }} In 2021, he moved to Greymouth to pursue his Gloria art project.

File:Strong Men Point Their Toes.jpg

Duckor-Jones started his artistic career as a sculptor, mostly clay pieces of men. These sculptures are generally {{convert|6|-|7|ft|m|order=flip}} tall, and brightly painted.{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Sarah |date=2022-03-04 |title=Born Again: Gloria of Greymouth |url=https://northandsouth.co.nz/2022/03/04/gloria-of-greymouth-west-coast-church/ |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=North & South}} His sculptures have been displayed at the Bowen Gallery in Wellington, Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in Masterton, and the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa.{{Cite news |last=Amery |first=Mark |date=2021-10-08 |title=Te Hīkoi Toi: 40 years of art with heart at Bowen Galleries |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/300424444/te-hkoi-toi-40-years-of-art-with-heart-at-bowen-galleries |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=Stuff }}{{Cite news |last=Barlow |first=Jack |date=2016-10-07 |title=Aratoi director steps down after funding cut shock |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/85039009/aratoi-director-steps-down-after-funding-cut-shock |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=Dominion Post}}{{Cite news |title=Sculpture blooms in botanic gardens |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/sculpture-blooms-in-botanic-gardens/NBQQJDJEWMO6IQRH3WWVZEHHHM/ |date=11 November 2017 |first=Dionne |last=Christian |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=The New Zealand Herald}}{{Cite news |title=Sculpture in the Gardens: Potter around the ornamentals |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/sculpture-in-the-gardens-potter-around-the-ornamentals/BRXT63WXE5TC5CQ62NM6YMCDBM/ |date=28 November 2015 |first=Sarah |last=Ell |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=The New Zealand Herald}}

Duckor-Jones was a finalist in the 2014 Portage Ceramic Awards.{{Cite web |title=Portage Ceramic Awards 2014 - Te Uru |url=https://www.teuru.org.nz/index.cfm/whats-on/portage-ceramic-awards/portage-ceramic-awards-20141/ |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery}} He was the 2016 artist-in-residence at Wellesley College in Eastbourne, and the 2017 resident at Scots College in Wellington.{{Cite web |title=Sam Duckor-Jones (2017) |url=https://www.scotscollege.school.nz/sca/sam-duckor-jones-2017/ |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=Scots College}}{{Cite web |first=Catharina |last=van Bohemen |date=28 July 2020 |title=Fragments of opportunity |url=https://www.artzone.co.nz/post/fragments-of-opportunity |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=ArtZone}}

In 2017, Duckor-Jones completed his Master of Arts (MA) degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.{{Cite web |last=Frankie |date=2018-09-24 |title=People from the pit stand up |url=https://www.artzone.co.nz/post/people-from-the-pit-stand-up |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=ArtZone}}{{Cite web |title=Duckor-Jones, Sam |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/duckor-jones-sam/ |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura}} His first book of poetry, People from the Pit Stand Up, published in 2018, was based on the work that he created during his MA programme.

His second book of poetry, Party Legend, was published in 2021. The central sequence of the book, as he describes, is that he had decided that he did not want to be a poet-artist any more and in 2019 enrolled in a science degree.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-13 |title=Poet Sam Duckor-Jones finds himself inspired by train trips |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018799527/poet-sam-duckor-jones-finds-himself-inspired-by-train-trips |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=RNZ }} He eventually dropped out of the degree, but the poems in the book drew on multiple scientific themes and words.

On writing poetry, Duckor-Jones said that it is easier for him to be gestural in poetry, than in his ceramics. He has said that Frank O'Hara is influential on his writing.

Duckor-Jones received the Biggs Poetry Prize from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-13 |title=Poet Sam Duckor-Jones finds himself inspired by train trips |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018799527/poet-sam-duckor-jones-finds-himself-inspired-by-train-trips |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=RNZ }} Chris Tse has said that Duckor-Jones' poetry has influenced his own writing.{{Cite news |last=Metekingi |first=Bronte |date=2022-03-22 |title=How I write: Chris Tse listens to music for inspiration |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300546341/how-i-write-chris-tse-listens-to-music-for-inspiration |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=Stuff}}{{Cite news |last=Seah |first=Naomii |date=2022-03-13 |title=A new poetry collection that finds the fun and whimsical in a bleak world |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/13-03-2022/a-new-poetry-collection-that-finds-the-fun-and-whimsical-in-a-bleak-world |access-date=2022-04-09 |work=The Spinoff}}

In 2021, Duckor-Jones bought St Andrew's Church in Greymouth, and has since converted it into a "queer place of worship"; a sculpture, named Gloria. The structure was built by the Anglican Church in 1939, but had fallen into disuse by 2000, and was deconsecrated in 2018.

Duckor-Jones named the structure Gloria in reference to "Christian hymns, disco and a make-believe character [he] and his brother created when they were children". Gloria is heavily influenced by camp, with Duckor-Jones acknowledging the impact Susan Sontag has had on the project. He painted Gloria bright pink, and reforested the lawn with native fauna because of his anti-lawn philosophy. He intends to fill the space with 50 {{convert|2|m|ft|adj=mid|-tall|spell=in}} clay and papier-mâché parishioners.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-09 |title=Sam Duckor-Jones: painting a church pink in the Grey District |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018837606/sam-duckor-jones-painting-a-church-pink-in-the-grey-district |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=RNZ }} The complete conversion of Gloria from church to sculpture is expected to be finished by 2027.

In early June 2022, Gloria was vandalised with homophobic and anti-Semitic messages, references to Leviticus, and a pride flag being burned on the front lawn.{{Cite web |last=Naish |first=Joanne |date=2022-06-09 |title='An act of hate': Pink church vandalised with homophobic, anti-semitic slurs |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/128910438/an-act-of-hate-pink-church-vandalised-with-homophobic-antisemitic-slurs |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=Stuff |language=en}} Three men appeared in the Greymouth District Court, where they all plead guilty and were discharged without conviction.{{Cite web |last=Naish |first=Joanne |date=2022-06-29 |title=Man admits anti-Semitic and homophobic attack on West Coast's pink church |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129122700/man-admits-antisemitic-and-homophobic-attack-on-west-coasts-pink-church |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Stuff |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Naish |first=Joanne |date=2022-10-12 |title=Two men escape conviction for homophobic, anti-semitic attack on Greymouth's pink church |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129948097/two-men-escape-conviction-for-homophobic-antisemitic-attack-on-greymouths-pink-church |access-date=2022-10-12 |website=Stuff |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Naish |first1=Joanne |title=Getaway driver discharged without conviction for part in church attack |url=https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350070689/getaway-driver-discharged-without-conviction-part-church-attack |website=The Press |access-date=2 May 2025 |date=14 September 2023}} A fourth offender pled guilty in the Wellington District Court and was also discharged without conviction.{{cite news |date=24 July 2023 |title=Homophobic, anti-Semitic vandal gets discharge without conviction |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/wellington/132605543/homophobic-antisemitic-vandal-gets-discharge-without-conviction |access-date=2 May 2025 |publisher=Stuff}}

• {{Cite book |last=Duckor-Jones |first=Sam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1042120801 |title=People from the pit stand up |year=2018 |publisher=Victoria University Press |isbn=978-1-77656-193-3 |language=English |oclc=1042120801}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ducker-Jones |first=Sam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1246550598 |title=Party legend |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-77656-423-1 |publisher=Victoria University Press |language=English |oclc=1246550598}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.samduckorjones.com/ Sam Duckor-Jones' website]
• [https://collection.wallaceartstrust.org.nz/persons/2234/sam-duckor-jones Sam Duckor-Jones at the Wallace Arts Trust]

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Category:1982 births

Category:Artists from Wellington City

Category:Writers from Wellington City

Category:International Institute of Modern Letters alumni

Category:21st-century New Zealand poets

Category:New Zealand male poets

Category:21st-century New Zealand sculptors

Category:21st-century New Zealand male artists

Category:Living people