In 2023, NWG Inc will publish Parramatta images by local artists and invite Western Sydney writers to respond with an *ekphrastic poem or short prose. We are looking for images that have a hint of story, movement or mood. Here is an example by Michaela Simoni (first published in ZineWest 2022). Your work might be in a very different style, but we hope this image gives you a clue to the depth we are looking for.

 

The Ekphrastic project is open to all creatives in Parramatta and Western Sydney generally. These works will be published in a Pop Up Zine 2023 and some will also be republished in our digital Expression which is a good place for images. In January we will be sending around an entry form for writers, but art entries are open now, to help get the project underway by January:  Parramatta Expression:  ENTRY FORM (ART)

Parramatta Expression will also publish a print edition of our journal Expression which will include the works of a small 2022 NWG Inc workshop group that focussed on stories longer than we can usually print publish plus some poetry from ZineWest award-winning poets.

*Ekphrasis: “Description” in Greek… An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.”https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

 “Basically, an ekphrasis is a literary description of art. Like other kinds of imagery, ekphrasis paints a picture with words. What makes it different from something like pictorialism is that the picture it paints is itself a picture: ekphrasis stages an encounter between representations in two mediums, one visual and one verbal.” https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/

Parramatta Expression 2023 has been supported by a City of Parramatta Council Community Grant.