Exploring Ekphrasis: Art as Inspiration for Literature
Ekphrasis—using a specific piece of art as inspiration for literature— is a method I often use to write my short stories. In the case of my short story, “The Easter Dress,” I used a family photo my father took at Easter. But then I went a step further and reversed the technique and commissioned the artist, Sherri Hanna, to create an image using both my story and the family photo as inspiration for her painting. When I think about the Easter holiday, I automatically envision bright cheerful colors. But while I incorporated vivid colors here in my story as did Sherri with her painting, this story is by no means bright and cheerful. I hoped to turn something ugly into something beautiful. Sherri is my cousin’s wife—though I believe I can officially claim her as my cousin now—and I’m really attracted to her abstract art. I specifically like her color combinations and the sweeping quality you find in some of her paintings. I also was intrigued by what would come of our collaboration and the emotions she would unlock to create painting “The Easter Dress.” I think she nailed it!—using a specific piece of art as inspiration for literature— is a method I often use to write my short stories. In the case of my short story, “The Easter Dress,” I used a family photo my father took at Easter. But then I went a step further and reversed the technique and commissioned the artist, Sherri Hanna, to create an image using both my story and the family photo as inspiration for her painting. When I think about the Easter holiday, I automatically envision bright cheerful colors. But while I incorporated vivid colors here in my story as did Sherri with her painting, this story is by no means bright and cheerful. I hoped to turn something ugly into something beautiful. Sherri is my cousin’s wife—though I believe I can officially claim her as my cousin now—and I’m really attracted to her abstract art. I specifically like her color combinations and the sweeping quality you find in some of her paintings. I also was intrigued by what would come of our collaboration and the emotions she would unlock to create painting “The Easter Dress.” I think she nailed it!
About
Sherri Hanna
My art is a journey into the depths of human emotion and imagination, inviting viewers to explore their own inner landscapes. Inspired by the majestic beauty of nature—dawn breaking over tranquil pools, the vibrant hues of coastal sunsets, and the ever-changing colors of the ocean—my abstract creations evoke a sense of wonder and connection.
The Easter Dress painted by Sherri Hanna
Left to Right: Aleea Major (sister), Marie Lung (Nana), Julia Johnson (sister), Suzanne Major (mother), Dawn Major (author)
Photo taken by Ronald Major
The Easter Dress
by Dawn Major
Her dress was lavender—the same color as that mother’s Easter dress across the train tracks from her apartment. Her eldest sister, Amy, had chosen a fabric in sea foam green and her middle sister, Jackie, chose baby blue. While her sisters pulled their crinolines up under their dresses, her mother secured the girl’s, itchy and noncompliant, under her dress.
Then her mother handed out white bobby socks that they folded over—the lace encircling their ankles hung low like Christmas tree limbs made too heavy from decorations.
“Be careful not to step on the lace,” her mother warned them as her sisters slipped on new, white, patent leather Mary Janes while her mother tightened gold buckles across her pudgy feet. The straps were stiff creating trenches in her skin, but the girl didn’t mind, it was Easter, Goddammit, and everyone was playing the part, even though her father was getting drunk banging on his bongos and later would start banging on her mother.
On the Saturday before Easter Sunday when her mother smashed a hamburger in her father’s face and her father smashed his bongo drums into her mother’s back her mother said, “Let’s put the final touches on your Easter dresses.” During the months leading up to Easter, her mother had painstakingly crafted Easter dresses for the girl and her sisters often making them sit still while she carefully finished sewing a hem or pinned a ruffle just so. It was late afternoon on that fateful Saturday, and her father was supposed to grill hamburgers while her mother had their fashion show, a practice round for tomorrow…
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About
Dawn Major’s debut novel, The Bystanders, was named finalist for 2024 Georgia Author of the Year for Best First Novel. Major an associate editor at Southern Literary Review, and a co-editor at WELL READ Magazine where she writes a column called “TripLit with D. Major.” She enjoys advocating for Southern writers and artists on her blog, SouthernRead.