what is this?
PALIMPSEST is an arts magazine designed to advance the traditional format of arts publications for both the reader and the artist.
Each issue will display pieces from a variety of creators (5-7) working in a range of mediums from visual art to short prose. These will be followed by a second piece from each artist made in response to another submission. The result will be that the works are presented both in isolation and in dialogue with another art piece, artist, and, often, art form. Our hope is that this process will draw out the duality of art as simultaneously a completed, self-contained object and as a malleable part of a fluid creative network, subject to interpretation and manipulation, influenced and influencing.
how does it work?
Each issue will be centred around a prompt and include two sections:
THE MAIN EVENT
~ Artists working in different mediums (any medium which can be printed on A4, from poetry to painting to sculpture) create a piece in response to the prompt.
~ The same artists create a second piece responding to another submission.
BACKCHAT
~ Articles and reviews on film, music, literature, TV, visual arts, or the arts in general centred around the issue’s prompt.
who are we?
PALIMPSEST is currently run by a small team but we’d love to make this magazine as collaborative as possible behind the scenes too.
If you:
~ Would like to be involved in editing
~ Are a graphic designer/web designer/illustrator
~ Just want to chat about what we’re doing
Email us at contact.palimpsestmag@gmail.com. Or, if you hate email, give us a message on Instagram!
Rhys Monaghan
Chief Editor; Graphic Design; Web Design
Hi! I have stubbornly forced this magazine into existence (and every conversation with anyone for the last three months).
PALIMPSEST basically exists for two reasons:
To provide another space for art, and one centred around community.
As an experiment in what happens when the audience has a view into how art pieces influence each other, and how ideas evolve through that process.
It feels like there's a real trend of events and spaces centred around art and community at the moment, which is an incredible thing. But they are still not as common or long-lived as they could be and a trend only stays alive for as long as people keep it alive. So this is my contribution. I hope it can bring art to more people and more people to art.
Previously, I have co-organised a multi-media art exhibition BODY/CATHARTSIS at Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh; acted as a Senior Editor and Lead Graphic Designer for The Film Dispatch magazine; and written on film, arts, and poetry for a number of publications.
I am currently planning a second exhibition with my co-organiser from BODY/CATHARTSIS. We are also in the process of forming a community-focused art collective.
Sevyn Michaela-Rose Waters
Art Editor
Sevyn Michaela-Rose Waters is a writer and editor from Atlanta, Georgia with an interest in literary fiction, magazine journalism, memoir, and poetry. Her work is inspired by nature, grief, art, and self-discovery, and she hopes to move readers to find meaning in the mundane. She is currently working on a novel and a detective series for young adults, both of which are influenced by the writing of Daphne Du Maurier and Margaret Atwood.
She currently has work published in Savannah Magazine, Port City Review, Square95, and District, and is soon to be published in the University of Edinburgh’s annual anthology, From Arthur’s Seat. In addition to her publications, she's worked as an editor for Square95 and District, and self-published her own poetry book alongside the zine, lock & key. When she isn’t writing or editing, you can find her cooking, sketching, drying flowers, enjoying nature, or impulsively hopping on a train to a town she’s never been.
Flora Stokes
BACKCHAT Editor
Flora recently completed her Film Studies MSc at the University of Edinburgh and is looking to pursue a career in academia. She is most interested in the philosophies of film phenomenology, cinematic tactility and their prominence within queer cinemas.
Oustide of her filmy life, she occasionally writes scattered pieces of prose or poetry, and can often be found hunched over her beloved sewing machine.
Previously, Flora acted as the Chief Editor for the UofE film magazine The Film Dispatch and has written on film and media for several publications. She is also currently the coordinator of Edinburgh Nightline, a student mental health service.