Rare Swan PressUnearthing Universes One Book At A Time“Owl-light” Ekphrastic Competition

“Owl-light” Ekphrastic Competition

During December 2021 Rare SwanPress continued the ” Stories from the eyes of an owl” collaboration with visual poet Sarah-Jane Crowson. In response to the hugely enthusiastic response to the first edition and selling out of the initial 25/25 limited edition, we announced a ‘pop-up’ festive ekphrastic competition, focused on Sarah-Jane’s beautiful visual poem, “Owl-light”.

“Owl-light” *Digital collage using found out of copyright images and scanned-in printed Ephemeras*

‘The intersection of words and image is constantly fascinating to me. Sometimes this can present itself as dialogue between the picture and the poem, or it can take the form of a dissonance or juxtaposition of different narratives which bring entirely new meanings/ideas.

I also think there’s an open-ness to ekphrastics that’s rooted in a long tradition of artistic dialogue, of groups of creatives coming together and riffing off one anothers’ ideas to make new and interesting work. What could be better than seeing how other creatives interpret your work and add to it. There’s a transformation in the idea that’s very exciting.’
Sarah-Jane Crowson

The Judges

Sarah-Jane Crowson and Rare Swan Press’s own Managing Editor, Marcelle Newbold, co-judged the entries, blind and the winners were announced December 21st, 2021.

Prize: Stories from the eyes of an owl Limited Edition

The winner received the final copy 25/25 of the first edition of Stories from the eyes of an owl limited edition, as well as the winning poem being hosted online at Rare Swan Press, as part of the “Stories from the eyes of an owl” project.

There will be one first place prize of a concertina book with six 148mm x 148mm colour-printed reproductions of collages (originals made using a mixture of analogue and digital methods) and an A5 art print on Perlino Cotton 300 gsm paper, from the first print run which is now sold out.