Writing on the Wall
Submission Category: What now?
The English department invites students, staff, and teachers to submit creative visual work that speaks to the current moment in American and world culture, for display on the twelfth floor of Hunter West as part of our end of year celebration.
Looking at the social and political landscape of recent years and looking ahead to what may come, it is hard not to be troubled by the world we are in and the social injustices we see and experience. The COVID-19 pandemic, the abolition of Roe vs. Wade, anti-black, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and violence … the list goes on. “Writing on the Wall” invites us all to think “what now” in terms of “what-the-hell-is-happening-now” but also “what-do-we-do-now.” It asks us all to think, how might literature help us better understand the present moment? And how might literature help you make a better world for the future?
The work you submit for “Writing on the Wall” can be your own creation, the work of someone else, or a mash-up of the two. It might incorporate painting, drawing, photography, collage, or some other artistic form. It can involve a quotation, a poem, an excerpt from play or story, or even a drawing or a blob of paint. It can be something from the present or something from the past. It can be something you love or something you hate (or something that you love and hate). It can be something you repurpose or find meaning in that the author may not have intended. It should be literary—whatever “literary” means to you.
The deadline for submissions is Monday 15th May 2023. Submissions can be small or large, as long as they can be put on display (on a wall or hard surface, so approximately up to 5x3ft). They should be delivered to the English department office (1212HW) ahead of the deadline and labelled with the name of the submitter. There is no restriction on the number of submissions from an individual.
Submissions will be evaluated with a view to displaying them in the English Department on the twelfth floor of Hunter West. All students, staff, and teachers will then be invited to an opening reception at 3:00pm on Wednesday 24th May, as the culmination of our Spring Celebration and Prizes and Awards Ceremony.
Faculty Examples
"Spring," Audre Lorde's first published poem in Seventeen magazine (Prof. Donna Masini)
