News / 27 Nov 2024
MA student exhibits research at Illustration & Heritage symposium
MA Illustration with Graphic Novel
Abbie Mooney, BA (Hons) Illustration graduate and now second year MA Illustration with Graphic Novel student, exhibited her research poster at the Illustration & Heritage symposium: Sharing Histories to Draw Out Futures.
Illustration Research announced an open call for paper and poster proposals in March, to which Abbie submitted an abstract for review by the symposium team. Abbie’s proposal was accepted and her work was included at the event alongside a programme of high-profile practitioners from across the illustration and heritage research community.
Her research poster summarises an ongoing investigation to identify how the inherent material qualities of traditional processes such as collagraph, can be used to give weight to contemporary explorations of industry and identity, considering the illustrator as an active participant in heritage-making. Abbie’s practice focuses on themes of community and identity in relation to British industrial heritage, with particular focus on railways, mining, and her family's textile manufacturing heritage.
“It was an honour to be contributing to the symposium alongside so many inspirational figures in my field. It was a really rewarding experience and I am inspired to continue my research in this area and present at future events as I progress my career.”
Abigail Mooney, MA Illustration with Graphic Novel
The 14th Illustration Research Symposium was held at UAL’s Chelsea College of Arts and included keynote speeches from Dan Hicks, curator and Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford; Yeni Kim, illustrator and Associate Professor at Hongik University; and Chris Lee, graphic designer and Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute, as well as panels on heritage-making as a form of knowledge production, illustration, AR, architecture, and materiality.
The symposium was curated in response to Illustration and Heritage, by Rachel Emily Taylor, published in 2024 by Bloomsbury Press, and was organised in partnership with the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, the Association of Illustrators, and Illustration Educators.