Image by Olga Naida
Dear writers, readers and friends,
For us artists, the month of February is often about seeking and exploring new pathways toward creativity, so we are inviting you to push yourself beyond your comfort zone with our latest prompt. Those on Twitter will have seen our posts inviting writers to transcend the first interpretation of our images and seek out deeper connections. The late Pau Casals i Defilló (Pablo Casals), a leading cellist from the early 20th century, said “the art of interpretation is not to play what is written”. This is easily transposed to ekphrastic writing. The art of ekphrasis is not to write what can be seen.
So when you are responding to our prompt we encourage you to stick strictly to the timeframe and think laterally. Or better yet, don’t think at all! Our challenge, especially the strict time frame, is about helping you reach a state of automatism to allow unexpected ideas to emerge. Many of you will already do automatic writing or morning pages and these, too, are designed to get your mind producing thoughts without thinking. If you need inspiration, Khan Academy have a great article on automatism (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/dada-and-surrealism/xdc974a79:surrealism/a/surrealist-techniques-automatism) and lots of companion resources on surrealism.
Our fantastic lead pieces are also a source of inspiration. Working in response to an image by Olga Naida (pure quirkiness) two talented writers have produced perfectly formed pieces that demonstrate the power in evoking an image rather than describing it.
On page one, we feature Nasia Sarwar-Skuse (https://twitter.com/NSarwarSkuse) , a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at Swansea University. Nasia is co-editing Gathering (https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/404-ink-lands-collection-of-nature-writing-by-women-of-colour) , an essay anthology on nature, climate and landscape by women of colour (forthcoming 2024 with 404 Ink (https://twitter.com/404Ink) ).
And on page two we highlight the work of writer, editor and translator Marie Isabel Matthews-Schlinzig (https://twitter.com/whatisaletter) , a regular contributor to Visual Verse. Marie Isabel’s debut poetry pamphlet Kinscapes (https://hybriddreich.co.uk/kinscapes-marie-isabel-matthews-schlinzig/) is out now with Dreich. Miraculously, she wrote her lead piece for us just days before her new child came into this world (congratulations!) and somehow it feels like these deeply moving words needed to be written, as if to sweep the path for the new babe.
We are in awe of our amazing writers this month and are energised by their beautiful pieces. And now, without further ado, we pass the baton…
The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.
Kristen
with Preti, Isabel, Lucie, Ashish, Zaynab and Wes White