Poetry Reading at the Gallery

According to Merriam-Webster ekphrasis is defined as a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art. In practice the description or commentary does not have to be one-sided. A visual work of art can also be a description or commentary on something written.

In the summer of 2019, a group of Chicago area photographers and poets met to discuss the idea of pursuing an ekphrastic conversation between poetry and photography, a conversation in which one art-form inspires the other. For example, a photograph might inspire a poem, which in turn inspires another photograph, which then inspires another poem and so on.

The group eventually named itself The P2 Collective, a collaboration of four poets and three photographers. During these last two pandemic-constraining years, the P2 Collective has held online poetry readings in which accompanying photographic images have been displayed, and has produced several poetry-photography videos. The exhibition at the Perspective Gallery of Fine Art Photography in November 2021 is the first physical exhibition of the work of the collective and consists of excerpts from some of the P2 members’ favorite “conversations.”

About Perspective Gallery
Founded in 2010, Perspective Group and Photography Gallery is a not-for-profit, community-oriented cooperative whose purpose is to promote fine art photography. In addition to monthly group and featured artists exhibitions, the gallery features a guest speaker lecture series, monthly artist talks, an annual national juried exhibition, an annual invitational show, an annual Vicinity exhibition, and an annual juried show for Chicago-area high school students.