Sam Duckor-Jones

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. Three men appeared in the Greymouth District Court, where they all plead guilty. Two were discharged without conviction and the third is due to be sentenced in late 2022.

Duckor-Jones lived in Featherston for many years, relocating there from Wellington because of the more affordable rent to live and have a studio. In 2021, he moved to Greymouth to pursue his Gloria art project.

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. He eventually dropped out of the degree, but the poems in the book drew on multiple scientific themes and words.

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.

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. 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.

Duckor-Jones received the Biggs Poetry Prize from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017. Chris Tse has said that Duckor-Jones' poetry has influenced his own writing.

Duckor-Jones was a finalist in the 2014 Portage Ceramic Awards. He was the 2016 artist-in-residence at Wellesley College in Eastbourne, and the 2017 resident at Scots College in Wellington.

Sam Duckor-Jones (born 1982) is a New Zealand sculptor, poet, and artist.