{"title":"How to do things with style: A pragmatic history of style as a site for debates about authorship, commodification and technological reproducibility","authors":"Julien Porquet","doi":"10.1386/jill_00112_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00112_1","url":null,"abstract":"While students desperately ask how to find it, educators deem it superficial; at times, a sign of artistic personality, it simultaneously indexes market niches; individual property of the artist, it also is not protected by copyright laws. Style is a rich concept whose impact on creatives is only mirrored by the lack of research on it. This paper investigates the history not of different styles but of style as a semiotic device through three key historical moments. From its role in the constitution of authorship in the eighteenth century to The Great Depression aesthetic changes to today’s theft of stylistic labour by artificial intelligence, this article suggests that style, the visual manifestation of the indexical relationship between artists and their work, has long been a tool for creatives to manifest, control and benefit from their work. The meaning and role of style for artists have changed over the centuries, from sign of the intrinsic personhood of an author to superficial sign of commercialism. This pragmatic history of style sheds light on two blind spots. On the one hand, an ethnographic blind spot was created by the illustrators themselves in their ‘theoretical turn’, leaving style to mere commercialism and framing it as the antithesis of artistry. On the other hand, the paper addresses a theoretical blind spot of history of art that has for a long time focused on style as a normative category to be defined and refined (cf. the works of Gombrich, Shapiro, Arnheim, Panofsky, Kubler, etc.) and left under theorized the pragmatics of style, i.e. what people do with the concept to control and regulate the social life of artworks.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"12 1","pages":"67-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147902936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Torn apart: Facing non-human pain","authors":"Vita Sleigh","doi":"10.1386/jill_00100_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00100_1","url":null,"abstract":"Pain can be isolating: the pain of others is hard to imagine. This difficulty can become more significant still when attempting to bear witness to the pain of groups deemed different, lesser or other, such as non-human animals. Exploring frameworks for pain which emphasize its relational and connective qualities, especially across species borders, as well as considering activism and illustration alongside each other as practices in which bodies are used to advocate for others, how might the application of queer and ecofeminist lenses to these disciplines reveal their affinities? This article experiments with the terms TRANSLATION, AMPLIFICATION and REFRACTION to describe modes of illustrative activism which implicate the body. Through such modes of creative and corporeal empathy, what can be imagined, reached for, or described of a non-human being’s suffering?","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"329-345"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147911700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I, object: Bringing women’s body image to the table in Northern Ireland","authors":"Beverley Irving-Edwards","doi":"10.1386/jill_00102_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00102_1","url":null,"abstract":"My doctoral research concerns making autoethnographic objects to illustrate my experience of poor body image and bulimia in a broader cultural context. I aimed to highlight how intersectional factors can impact different women’s body images. However, my autoethnography risked inadvertently presenting my (White) experience as generalizable. Holding workshops with my objects was a way to mitigate this possibility, but further reflection on my positionality was needed. Although my participants and I are White, I am an outsider-insider in Northern Ireland. My autoethnographic objects took two forms; one may be best defined as ‘liminal object illustration’. By mimicking tableware, I used their social and cultural associations to destabilize their familiarity and influence the workshop activity. The women made their own objects on themes arising from our conversations for a collaborative exhibition. This article refers to original data from the workshops and exhibition, collected between October 2022 and May 2023.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"373-397"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147896054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Us and them: We draw together: Exploring inclusivity in a community mural project","authors":"Kimberly Ellen Hall, Omar El Masri","doi":"10.1386/jill_00101_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00101_1","url":null,"abstract":"The Community Mural Project in St Pauls, Cheltenham, United Kingdom reflects on the dynamics of ‘us and them’ within a community mural initiative. It seeks to develop inclusive social spaces through participatory arts-based research using drawing. The article also addresses the complexities of power and influence in mural arts. Furthermore, it examines the interconnectedness of community and the role of drawing and illustration methods in understanding and addressing inclusivity and exclusivity. The project takes place in St Pauls, a mixed-class area of Cheltenham known for its annual festivals, where observations and reflections from the interdisciplinary team contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the project’s context. The project included workshops, community consultations and the creation of twelve mini-murals, each a product of diverse images. These phases aimed to break down barriers and facilitate collaboration among community members, addressing power differentials and the complexities of community dynamics.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"347-372"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/14512/3/14512%20Hall%2C%20K.E.%20and%20El%20Masri%2C%20O.%20%282024%29%20Exploring%20inclusivity%20in%20a%20community%20mural%20project.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147908457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Representing fear: Anil Vangad and Venkat Shyam","authors":"Nina Sabnani","doi":"10.1386/jill_00099_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00099_7","url":null,"abstract":"Why is that which is revered or feared is given a form? Is it because fear of the unknowable and invisible can seem like an abyss, and manifesting it to form perhaps makes it finite? Or perhaps it brings some solace and gives courage to encounter it? Artists Venkat Shyam from Madhya Pradesh and Anil Vangad from Maharashtra, India, attempt to give a form to fear of the corona virus and perhaps anger to make peace with their observations.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"263-270"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147892799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ET Russian: Redefining illustration through multisensory storytelling","authors":"Deanne Genevieve Fernandes","doi":"10.1386/jill_00104_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00104_7","url":null,"abstract":"This short text highlights how ET Russian reshapes traditional illustration by weaving together multisensory techniques to create accessible, immersive narratives. Grounded in disability justice and queer identity, Russian’s work goes beyond visual art, blending performance, sound, texture and tactile elements. This approach invites underrepresented communities, especially disabled and LGBTQ+ individuals, into the storytelling process. By pushing the boundaries of accessibility and identity, Russian’s art challenges viewers’ perceptions and demonstrates how multisensory storytelling can evoke empathy and drive change within the field of illustration.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"415-419"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147901057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"B-O-O-K: Exploration of the performative aspects of book design and the potential of three-dimensional illustrations","authors":"Imi Maufe, Hilde Kramer","doi":"10.1386/jill_00097_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00097_7","url":null,"abstract":"This portfolio presents works by Imi Maufe and Hilde Kramer. Both projects were part of the multi-year Illuminating the Non-Representable artistic research project, led by Kramer, University of Bergen. The filmed performance, Book-Object-Object-Knowledge , explored the concept of the semiophor (a semiotic shift by recontextualization). Book of Remembrance , a performative artist book, challenged how illustration can represent stories of profound human suffering. It focused on a specific historic event where over fifteen thousand people were deported to their deaths, between 5 and 12 September 1942. Works include a large glass-cased book and performances with its pages in public, a film and an exhibition that included letterpress pamphlets and object illustrations.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"297-317"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147909782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Fluid, not Frozen’: Assigning memory to material","authors":"Nina Sabnani","doi":"10.1386/jill_00095_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00095_7","url":null,"abstract":"‘Fluid, not Frozen’ delves into the relationship between intangible memory and its material form, as experienced through collaborative projects with artists from Kutch and Rajasthan, India. These artists employ the mediums of cloth and wood, respectively, to manifest and embed their memories in tangible forms such as embroidery and the kaavad shrine. The communities’ artworks (or artistic traditions) serve as living examples of the dynamic, evolving nature of memory and material, with cloth and wood echoing the malleability and resilience of memory. This article shares the insights that emerged from the collaboration between the artists and the filmmaker–author with regard to the fluidity and transformation of memory and material.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"247-262"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147884530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"If this is a human being","authors":"Sebastian Klein","doi":"10.1386/jill_00096_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00096_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the project If This Is a Human Being , which explores innovative methods for Holocaust education using illustration-based methods, and tactile and interactive approaches to learning and teaching history. We developed three workshops for university students investigating Norwegian-Jewish micro-histories during the Second World War, and our findings indicate that the methods fostered engagement, concentration and a sense of accountability towards the historical Other. The project aimed to supplement existing Holocaust education by providing new tools and techniques to address challenging subjects like the Holocaust in an educational setting, and to create pedagogical environments that promote historical thinking and responsibility, using a design-based research approach to develop and refine these educational strategies.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"271-296"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147899686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Morbid memories: The hauntology of Theodor Kittelsen’s Svartedauen","authors":"Lauryn Elise Bolz","doi":"10.1386/jill_00103_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jill_00103_1","url":null,"abstract":"‘What does it mean when the ghosts of our past refuse to leave?’ Norwegian illustrator Theodor Kittelsen’s book, Svartedauen ([1901] 2011) utilizes pictured poetry, or poetry written in conjunction with illustrated elements, to tell a mythologized version of the story of the Black Death, an illness that claimed approximately 60 per cent of the Norwegian population in the fourteenth century. Curiously, his depictions of icy fjords and dark forests contain elements contemporary with Kittelsen’s life, implying that the mythological characters and ghosts of the fourteenth century still inhabit his homeland. I argue that the book represents the temporal rupture felt by Norwegians at the end of the nineteenth century, caused by extreme societal changes driven by their fight for independence and rapid industrialization. Using a ‘hauntological’ lens developed by Jacques Derrida, this article explores how Kittelsen’s landscapes of anachronism are displayed both in the book’s motifs and its medium.","PeriodicalId":40349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Illustration","volume":"11 2","pages":"399-414"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147889051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}