Sarah-Jane Crowson

NationalPoetryMonth.ca April 30, 2023

Infinity Forest by Sarah-Jane Crowson appears on NationalPoetryMonth.ca on April 30, 2023.

From Sarah-Jane

The story behind the making of this collage is when I started to play with animation in the middle of NaPo 2022. "Wait!" I hear you say, “You made this during the crazy mid-period of NaPo, when we’re all feeling a bit burnt out and devoid of ideas?” I hear you. But I think in a sense, when else? When else would I attempt something completely different? By mid-point of April I was a bit bored of my own style, but not ready to leap into the next big project, and pushing the boundaries technically seemed like a good thing to try. And I did edit it quite substantially once April was over.

The ‘story’ behind the piece itself is a bit loose-woven. I was thinking about myths and our past and wondering what would happen if there was a Victorian Minotaur locked in a sea of ‘stuff’ from the Second Industrial Revolution. Tea-kettles and Steam Trains and Corsets. That kind of thing. And in the animation the little deer-headed character (this character is always a various incarnation of me, in my collages) is about to magic up some mischief as she visits the minotaur to take tea, accompanied with her various enchanted objects.

More generally, my work is usually inspired by trying to re-imagine the past, and subvert old narratives by using ephemera and period illustrations in my collages and a mixture of erasure or found text for the words. I use a mixture of analogue and digital techniques, and my work is quite personal too - my own personal journey tends to show itself obliquely within my work, although I don't always intend that to happen.

About Sarah

Sarah-Jane's work is inspired by fairytales, nature, psychogeography and surrealism. She uses bricolage to explore the space between real and imagined; creating alternative narratives as small acts of resistance. She is an educator at Hereford College of Arts, and a postgraduate researcher at Birmingham City University. Her work can be seen in various journals, including The Adroit Journal, Rattle, Petrichor, Sugar House Review, Iron Horse Literary Journal and Penn Review. You can find her on Twitter @Sarahjfc or on her website at www.sarahjanecrowson.art.

You can return to NationalPoetryMonth.ca to revisit all the poetry and visual poetry from our 2023 contributors until February 28, 2024. Tomorrow, a thank you post is forthcoming.