Jhinuk Sarkar

University of the Arts London

A Palette of Community Illustrators

Panel: Community

What happens when you bring together four illustrators that regularly work with community groups? How is heritage unearthed in community work facilitated by Illustrators? How is representation and listening through practice highlighted in this type of work in the Illustration discipline?

In this paper I reflect on community work that has evolved in my illustration practice using a case study that begins with the Community Illustrator role I undertook. This role was commissioned by the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, funded by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund. In the project I found a unique space to share with three other Community Illustrators, understanding how and where our work illuminates heritage in tandem with ethical practices. Alongside this work, I share how my illustration practice continues to evoke the connections between heritage from my own positionality and how heritage questions critical practice through collaborations with, within and for communities.

Finally, I’ll put into question where Community Illustration work can progress and provide alternative methods for research methodologies that address heritage. Defining what heritage looks like in visual practices can be expansive, varying from global perspectives and retelling stories of histories often oppressed – “It could be argued that Heritage reflects nostalgia, which can be perceived as a yearning…to preserve a ‘lost community’” (Taylor, 2024). My paper argues that Community Illustrators hold a vital role in diversifying what image-making methods, processes, and tools we use in the Illustration discipline (in doing so, diversifying the audiences we are also engaging). With this aim I hope to highlight how Community Illustration and its collaborative nature of working can authentically voice Illustration’s power in storytelling.

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Jhinuk Sarkar is a London-based Illustrator, Educator and Access Consultant. She works in analogue and digital multimedia with a particular interest in sensory storytelling. Jhinuk’s work has spanned editorial, packaging, design and museum educational projects. As a Leicester-born Neurodivergent with Bengali heritage, Jhinuk explores typography and language in her practice. She is a Board Director of the AOI and co-producer of the Square Hole podcast (a project exploring neurodiversity and creativity). Jhinuk believes Illustration is a tool for social justice and is currently working on illustrating ‘sensory manuals’. She teaches Illustration and Inclusive Practices at University of the Arts London.