Woordlandskappe in gesprek met beeldlandskappe – ’n praktykgebaseerde ondersoek na die kreatiewe verbande tussen digkuns en visuele kuns

Abstract

In this study, creative relationships between poetry (lexical text) and visual art (‘text’-in-images) are examined and discussed in a theoretical, philosophical and conceptual way. This theoretical investigation serves to substantiate the practical portrayal of the possible levels of interpretation of the creative relationships that may emerge between poetry and visual art (when a visual artwork and an image-poem (beeldgedig) enter into a converstation with each other on an intertextual level). The research focuses on the potential for a heightened experienced that may be created (or offered) by several levels of interpretation possibly emerging between a lexical text (five image-poems written by the researcher) and a ‘text’-in-images (five visual artworks by Joan Miró), as these distinct fields of creativity enter into a conversation on a metaphorical level. As creative outcomes (such as image-poems and visual artworks) may convey multiple meanings and may also evoke complex concepts and/or contradictions during analysis, the researcher/poet is compelled to examine the conversation between the two fields as well as the process of analysis closely, and to document this in a practical way. To support the practical documentation, the concept of a composite ‘map’ (hegkaart) is used, serving as a practical aid to frame the creative relationships between poetry and visual art (in this study). In essence, this study is an investigation into the shared root system between poetry and visual art, and also into the possible interpretations that may emerge on an intertextual level between the two fields entering into a conversation with each other. The study is delimited to the interpretation possibilities of the creative relationships that can be highlighted and practically applied to the intertextual conversation that may emerge between the five selected visual artworks of Joan Miró and the five image-poems in response to these artworks. This study poses the question and also offers (in a practice-based way) creative examples of five possible levels of interpretation which may emerge when a visual artwork is examined in the light of an image-poem, ánd when an image-poem is examined in the light of a visual artwork. (The five possible levels of interpretation are based on Alain De Botton and John Armstrong’s version of a revised blueprint for an art gallery according to a therapeutic vision). Some metamorphoses that a visual artwork and an image-poem may possibly undergo (as symbolic illustration of a recipient’s involvement in an artwork or image-poem) are also addressed in the study – specifically to explore the root system that is shared between poetry and visual art at more than one level of interpretation. The researcher/poet uses various concepts and keywords with regard to the creative relationships that may emerge between these five visual artworks and five image-poems, namely: creative writing; Joan Miró; composite ‘map’ (hegkaart); word/lexical landscape (woordlandskap); (visual) image landscape (beeldlandskap); word cloud (woordwolk); colour calligram (kleurkalligram); methaphorical tale (beeldspraakverhaal); colour shift (kleurverskuiwing); poetic shift (versverskuiwing); and book landscape (boeklandskap).