Book Cover Art Competition

In January/February 2023, we ran a competition for University of Salford students to design the cover art for our new book: Jade Munslow Ong and Andrew van der Vlies, eds.,Olive Schreiner: Writing Networks and Global Contexts (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming). Below we present an online gallery of all of the submissions, with grateful thanks to all of the artists, and Ryan Graham and Nancy Porter for their support.

Mia Pike

‘My practice is fuelled by my love for pop culture, mental health awareness and my humanitarian morals. Although I am most known for my mural and painting work, I have began to branch into other mediums such as digital and sculpture. By using colour, I bring a bright powerful aspect to my work. I agree with and feel empowered by Schreiner’s beliefs, achievements and knowledge; this was a really joyful piece for me to make.’

Milda Isganaityte

‘My artwork for the cover represents modernism with a traditional background. Colours: black, white, orange and green - natural for African scenery and culture.'

Nabila Nabi

‘I have worked as a book illustrator in Bangladesh. I worked here with tapestry and folk forms.'

Aroobah Khan

‘The piece I have submitted is a chemigram I made in the darkroom. I am a graphic design student and work a lot with analogue, camera-less photography.’

Winning Design

Naomi Quaye

‘My idea was to somehow show Africa without the obvious stereotypes. Starting off with the colours, I looked at all the African flags together to see which colours are used the most. Red, blue, green, yellow, black and white are colours that you find with most African flags. The circle patters represent African fabric clothing patterns. The texture represents crushed paper, for the hard work African people had to do. Lastly the black African continent with the red cross indicates the location where Olive Schreiner was born.’

Sauloman Hashmi

‘I decided to create a piece that reflects Olive Schreiner as a person - her life absolutely fascinated me, so I decided to honour her in a few ways. The first was the white bird, which comes from her allegory, "The Hunter". I was intrigued by the detail of the white/silver bird soaring across the blue skies, and I really wanted to include this. The second was the resting place of Schreiner, Buffelskop mountain. From photos I have seen, it's an extraordinarily vast space. I decided to combine these small details into something symbolic of Schreiner's presence in the modern day and in cultural memory; in a way, the bird is her spirit, living on where she rests, her ideals and what she stood for flying high and beyond her time to us now. She rests peacefully, but her actions will always remain with us, her ideals will remain with us.

I am fairly experienced in Pixel Art so I decided to use this medium to do something that feels relevant to the subject, avoiding stereotypical ideas.’

Naomi Quaye

Stella Burke

‘This artwork was created by me to showcase abstract identity. It displays how people's sense of self distorts and evolves constantly. Humans are multifaceted beings. Our relationship with not only ourselves but the world around us is a complicated and often confusing one.’

Emelia Gillott

'For this artwork I wanted the main focus to be on Schreiner as a person, since the book is about the importance of her ideals and her impact on society. Because of this, I felt the best way to capture all the different aspects of what she stood for and represents would be to use her as the subject of the piece. For the style, I was inspired by the Albert Adams collections to use a rough sketched style. I also incorporated three colours from the South African flag to tie it all together and bring it back to Schreiner and her origins in South Africa.’

Sadeeq Adeleke

‘Understanding that when society collapses and we revert or in this case fall to ground zero, we would have the knowledge of the future that is envisioned to catch us’

Abdulkabir Adesina

‘Olive Schreiner was a writer and activist known for advocating for social justice and equality. Through her writing, she challenged the dominant power structures of her time and raised awareness about important issues such as the oppression of women and racial inequality. She believed in peaceful activism to bring about positive change. My artwork for the book Olive Schreiner: Writing Networks and Global Contexts is a visual representation of the themes explored in the novels and allegories which are peace, activism, and social justice. The dove with an olive branch symbolises peace, while the raised hands symbolise activism and the call for change. The lines of a map in the background show that her writings were influenced by and had an impact on a global scale. The combination of these elements showcases the powerful message of hope, unity, and activism that Schreiner's writings still hold today. I hope my artwork will be a fitting tribute to the heritage of Schreiner and inspire others to continue her work for a better world.’

Kathrine Njoroge

Mine is a collection of abstract pieces that represents African art. The abstract shapes and bright colours visually represent some of the themes in the book.’

Katie Clemo

‘The societal changes we have seen throughout the centuries have only come about because of the brave people who found ways to directly and indirectly use their voices to pave the way for a better and equal future. Although we have seen a lot of positive change, we still have a long way to go and I wanted to find a way to combine the past and the future together in my submission as one can’t live without the other. Living on Earth is the one constant humans have had throughout history and there’s something quite comforting looking up at a beautiful sky and knowing that we are looking at the same view as our past ancestors. The water the sky is reflected onto represents the fluidity of society and serves as a reminder that change only comes about as a direct effect of our own actions as individuals.’

Sophie Dutton

‘My illustration uses the colours from the South African flag to subtly represent the author, Olive Schreiner. I have created a bold abstract illustration, which will work well for a book with many themes. Using free hand drawn shapes mixed with perfect circles and straight lines gives contrast to the composition. Furthermore, the use of gradient and grain overlay add depth.'

Amber Masters

‘After reading the brief, I looked into the life of Olive Schreiner and was amazed by her works and accomplishments. I wanted to create a piece that showed a powerful portrait of her with the colours of Africa behind her, to show her connection and bond to the continent. The rest of the piece is grey to ensure that Schreiner and Africa are the central themes, just like with the book. The decorative frame around Schreiner helps hold the viewers' focus onto her and the colours, reinforcing the important themes.’

Alyssa Broomfield

'I was introduced to Olive Schreiner in the Theory, Text, and Writing module. I was able to view a beautiful first edition of her collection of short stories, Dreams. I found her writing to be captivating, and I was intrigued by the topics she chose to explore as a woman of her time. The whimsical and surreal illustration on the cover of this book caught my attention, and I spent a great deal of time attempting to produce an artwork that embodied Schreiner's beliefs and philosophy. In attempting to capture the essence of her writing, I wished to honour her willingness to address issues such as gender inequality, poverty, and racism. I struggled to visually represent the complexity of her work, particularly because I was determined to create an abstract piece of art, something I had never done before. I wanted the illustration to convey Schreiner's audacity and her ability to write with a certain poeticism, which enabled her words to move her readers. I eventually created a piece that attempts to combine the surreal illustrations that inspired me with some of Schreiner's themes. The outcome was a vibrant and colourful portrait that captures the essence of her capacity to push the boundaries of conventional thought. I used bright and bold colours to represent the courage it took to break away from established ideas, and dark tones to highlight the serious undertones of her work.'