Samuel Webster is a freelance artist working in the mediums of writing, film and photography.
When he is not writing, he takes photos of people, collecting expressions in mason jars to reuse inappropriately at family occasions. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of online arts journal, Mood of Monk, and working on his first novel and poetry collection.
Samuel Webster is a contributor to multiple publications including The Punch (News Limited), Onya Magazine, Trespass Magazine and Veri.Live. In addition to his freelance work, , He is also the Editor-in-Chief of online arts journal Mood of Monk. In this role he has made connections with many parts of Sydney and Melbourne’s artistic sphere, including Rafael Bonachela, artistic director of Sydney Dance Company who invited him to come and create a piece of work based on his original piece, LandFORMS. Protogenos, the final product of that work, was a 60 page book of photography and visual poetry which sold at the theatre throughout the run and has received praise in both the artistic and media worlds. Towards the end of 2011, Rafael Bonachela invited Samuel to work alongside him in the creation of a new work for Sydney Dance Company, 2 ONE ANOTHER which will debut in March 2012. Samuel provided his skills in poetry to the dancers and Rafael during the Research & Development stage of the work, actively evolving the ideas which would make up the final work.
“I met Samuel first through the poetry of his writing before I met him personally, but there was an immediate recognition of a remarkable spirit… I am in awe of the way in which he can capture the physical art of dance, the aural art of music and grasp inner meaning which he effortlessly translates into words. It is such a gift.” – Rafael Bonachela, Artistic Director – Sydney Dance Company
“Having already collaborated with one of Australia’s pre-eminent Artist Directors at such an early stage in his career, Webster has a bright future ahead.” – Zac Bayly, Pages Digital.
“[Protogenos] is a unique concept which typifies why Webster is so successful at what he does.” – Monique Cowper, Hornsby Advocate
History:
In 2006, Samuel won the National Youth Week Senior Industry Award for a short story which competition judge Michael Short (Executive Editor, The Age) called “a sophisticated and sensitive melange of surrealism, emotion and innocence.” Samuel was also a finalist in the Youth Week photographic competition in 2007, and his short film, LAPSE, won both the Senior Industry Award and People’s Choice Award of Youth Week 2010. Samuel’s photographic work was publically exhibited in a 2006 cafe installation entitled ‘RGB’, and has received public acclaim on photographic blogs worldwide, including being featured twice on the photographic lighting website Strobist, which receives one and a half million views per month. In 2007, he was chosen as one of five finalists for the National Youth Week photography prize. As a result of their popularity, many of his images have also been featured on the main page of the web photo giant Flickr, which boasts 2000 new photos uploaded per minute. For five years, Samuel worked on multiple video projects for Tiny Green Gorilla Productions, taking on various roles ranging from Production Assistant to Event Director.
As a musician, Sam has performed in many musical ensembles including jazz quintet Illegal Harmonies, Emma Davis’ acoustic trio and OnFire Big Band. With OnFire, he performed with internationally renowned jazz musician James Morrison at sold out venues nationwide. He also took on the role of co-producer and engineer for Unfinished Business and Old School, released by OnFire in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Additionally, he has worked as recording assistant to producer and professional drummer John Morrison on clients ranging from North Sydney Boys High School to BMW.
Education:
Samuel completed his Honours degree in Communications, from UTS at the end of 2007 with a poetic thesis about the political interaction between Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler. In 2010, he completed his Masters of Creative Writing from Macquarie University, and is at the tail end of his Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary School)As a photographer, musician, film maker and writer, Samuel’s creative output has focused mostly upon the crossover areas between the creative arts, including such areas as visual poetry and music reviews. In this capacity, he has instructed undergraduate students at the University of Technology, Sydney in the area of cultural analysis, an academic strand which borrows heavily from anthropology, social sciences and the humanities. He is also a regular tutor in English and Writing, and has given multiple creative seminars to students under taking English creative major works for their Higher School Certificate.