Illustration & Heritage

On 22 and 23 November 2024, the 14th Annual International Illustration Research Symposium will explore the role illustration plays in cultural heritage. Hosted by the Illustration Programme at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, Illustration & Heritage: Sharing Histories to Draw Out Futures will present panels, papers, and posters by practitioners and researchers from the fields of illustration and heritage, who explore the active processes of heritage-making.

In what ways do contemporary illustrators participate in historical narratives and give voice to people and communities — both remembered and forgotten — through their work? How are historical relics, places, and events represented through illustrative processes? How do researchers and practitioners in heritage utilise the practices, research methods and processes of illustration? How does heritage shape the perspectives, positions, and identities of illustration practitioners and researchers? How is the process of heritage-making practised by illustrators around the world? How do illustrative processes — and the shared languages of categorising, curating, conserving, and communicating heritage¹ — bring illustration into the realms of archaeology, museology, curation, and other heritage practices? Do illustrators who engage with heritage-making as part of their practice communicate and reflect what Stuart Hall described as a ‘collective social memory’?² Who should be making the images that shape the future histories of culture and identity? When practising heritage-making with or through illustration, how do we make space for plurality, and how do we reflect on our subjectivity?

Download call for papers and posters.

Call for Papers and Posters

The call for papers and poster proposals is now open: please submit your interest by 14 April 2024. All submissions should be in .pdf format and emailed to: illustrationandheritage@arts.ac.uk.

To submit a paper proposal, include:

Working paper title
A 300-word written proposal detailing how the paper relates to the symposium themes listed here
3 images maximum
100-word biography and affiliation
Reference to a symposium theme or prompt listed here (personal interpretations of these prompts are welcome)

To submit a poster proposal, include:

Working poster title
150-word written proposal detailing how the visual work relates to the symposium themes and key word poster prompts listed here
5 images maximum (from your own practice and/or research)
100-word biography and affiliation
Reference to one key term from the list of poster prompts (personal interpretations of these key word prompts are welcome)

List of key subjects, processes, and ideas

A non-exhaustive list of key terms that suggest subjects, processes, and ideas that we welcome in paper and poster submissions:

Folk, religion and spirituality, dance and song, performance, customs and traditions, food, dress, costume, archives, collections, museums, curating, collecting, heritage futures, collectives, communities, object narratives, embodiments, identity, story-telling, fiction, archaeology, museology, inheritance, legacy, memory, nostalgia, collectivity, plurality, chorality, place, situatedness, excavation, preservation, conservation and care

Notes: Posters will be exhibited alongside the symposium. Posters can be fully illustrational. Format specifications and practicalities for poster printing and display will be shared after the submission deadline has passed.

Symposium prompts and provocations for paper and poster proposals

Heritage as Process:

Heritage is an ongoing, active process
Illustration is a tool that can be used to bridge the gap between objects, people, and places and their stories
Illustrative processes can disrupt the process of heritage-making, for example in the archive, collection, or museum
People working in heritage often use illustrative processes in curation, collecting, captioning, and more
Heritage is used to build future worlds

Participating in Heritage

Illustrators participate in the historical narrative, rather than/as well as spectating or recording it
Illustration plays a key role in museology, anthropology, archaeology, and curation
Affected communities and individuals participate in the processes of illustration and heritage-making
By exploring heritage through illustrative practice, we participate in events that are historically and geographically distant

A Found Voice and a Made Voice

Illustration gives voice to historical individuals and communities, particularly those who are under-represented
Through the processes of heritage-making and illustration, the historical voice can be ‘found’ and/or ‘reconstructed’
Illustration as ventriloquism, medium/conduit, and/or spokesperson

Representing and Representation

Illustration can represent prehistoric and historical landscapes or sites
Illustration in the context of heritage can construct and represent a collective social memory and a ‘national story’ (Stuart Hall, 1999)
Heritage-making represents a collective form of knowledge-making
Illustration in the context of heritage draws attention to/privileges certain aspects of history, but not others