2003 was a very busy year for 21st Editions. We published the second title in our Silver Series, The Perfect World of David Halliday and two Platinum Series titles: the surrealist work of Arthur Tress paired with Apollinaire in Memories; and the brilliant and highly acclaimed work of Robert ParkeHarrison in Listening to the Earth, with poems inspired by and composed specifically for this title. A companion title, The Book of Life, was also published in 2005. Morri Creech then went on to publish these poems separately and won the Anthony Hect Poetry Prize in 2005 for Field Knowledge.
Listening to the Earth is an early iconic image in Robert ParkeHarrison's career that was the impetus for the Platinum Series title by the same name. Like most of the earlier work, this photographic panel was made by hand with traditional analog processes, unlike the digital processes now being used by the ParkeHarrisons, as well as most photographic artists today. They created the scene using handmade props and found objects, and Robert is the subject. With a finished surface of encaustic wax, this panel is a pivotal piece and an important one to the history of photography. The George Eastman House originated the first major exhibition of this work, of which a panel from this edition was a part, that traveled the U.S. and Europe. Around the same time the work of Robert ParkeHarrison began to be credited to both Robert and his wife Shana who work as a team then and now. This unique artist proof was acquired directly from the artist(s) and was outside an edition of five panels, all of which sold out prior to the show it premiered in.
The Perfect World of David Halliday
Memories
Book of Life and Listening to the Earth