Spirits of a Painted Forest © Helen Sear
We’re building a virtual Cabinet of Remedies and we’re offering you the opportunity to share your writing with our community. Through your work, you can help shape this important archive for the future.
Since we’ve been in lockdown, we’ve found much solace in Alain de Botton and John Armstrong’s book, Art as Therapy. They talk about how art can connect us to our inner worlds and unique needs, identifying a number of psychological frailties to which art can be an antidote. Within this framework, we are asking artists to respond to the current situation. We are using this artwork as the foundation of a dialogue between visual art and the written word.
How to Participate
Create a piece of flash fiction using Spirits of a Painted Forest © Helen Sear as the prompt.
- Maximum 250 words, excluding the title
- One challenge: The opening sentence must be “If you go down to the woods today …”
- You are welcome to share up to five pieces
- Submit as an attachment to an email to hello@hundredheroines.org
- (Optional) include your social media handles and/or link to your website
- Deadline – 18:00 (BST) Tuesday 26th May 2020
- A selection will be published on our website over the next few weeks
Helen’s Inspiration for Spirits of A Painted Forest
I began these pictures when France went into lockdown and access to the forests close to my home was prohibited. I have been photographing the marks painted by the foresters on trees for many years, exploring my fascination with relationships between painting, photography and our human relationships with nature. The situation of confinement due to COVID 19 has prompted a more playful approach to the idea of space and territory, surface and perspective. The painted marks, excavated from the photograph, have multiplied, escaping the fixity of their original position, activating the picture plane with the fluidity of the digital toolbox.
Small Print
- By entering your work, you agree that it can be published on our website and used to promote the Cabinet of Remedies initiative.
- You will be credited as the author of the work on our website.
- You retain the copyright over your work at all times.
