The 12th annual IR symposium
Transitus: Illustration as Crossing Ground
Hosted by the MA Authorial Practice at Falmouth University
Carolyn Shapiro offered Falmouth University to host the 12th International Illustration Research Symposium. We were very excited when Desdemona McCannon of Illustration Research accepted this offer. Consequently, we quickly formed a team to move the project forward. Carolyn Shapiro, Laurence North and Linda Scott began by considering a theme. The idea of illustration as being representative of translation or transposition of actions and concepts became a reoccurring subject of our conversations.
This developed via many twists and turns into Transitus: Illustration as Crossing Ground. Following two years of Covid lockdown we optimistically committed our planning to organising an in-person on campus event. However, as we progressed, the post-Covid state of the global transport infrastructure and the possibility of further waves of pandemic caused us to rethink. We were also receiving requests from delegates who had attended the previous online symposium at Kingston School of Art (2021), who, based outside of the UK were very keen to be part of the 12th Illustration Research Symposium.
Consequently, we changed tack. At the time of writing this introduction we have around 250 delegates from approximately 28 different countries. This international and enthusiastic engagement with the symposium has more than compensated for our initial disappointment at not being able to realise our first plan for an on-campus event.
We have organised the very broad and stimulating range of presentations as best we could into themed panels that we hope will spark discussion and new ideas. We have also included two workshops that we hope will allow a more active engagement with the symposium theme. There has also been a collaborative project between students from MA Authorial Practice at Falmouth University and The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), School of Arts of University College Ghent. The students have dedicated an edition of their collaborative webcomics project to this symposium. The Promise webcomics project has allowed two institutions to cross ground and author a special edition webcomic in response to themes of the symposium. The new works will be available to view from the first day of the conference at http://www.the-promise.net/
We would like to thank all of those who proposed papers and workshops for the symposium and Desdemona McCannon, Nanette Hoogslag and Adrian Holme from the The Illustration Research Group, Camilla Kjaernet for her technical support and Mandy Jandrell our Director of the Institute of Photography and the Falmouth School of Art for her supportive enthusiasm and financial investment in this research project. We would also like to thank our guest speakers Olivier Kugler, Andrew Humphreys and Professor Hilde Kramer for agreeing contribute to the Transitus: Illustration as Crossing Ground, 12th International Illustration Research Symposium.
Laurence North
Download the full programme with abstracts and bibliographies
Friday events
1 Schedule for Friday morning, 15th July
Welcome and Introduction: Dr Carolyn Shapiro & Dr Nanette Hoogslag
Keynote presentation
2 Olivier Kugler & Andrew Humphreys, The Fish and Chip Project
The stories that make up our book cover a diverse array of topical issues including, but not limited to, immigration, cultural identity, the economics of global shipping and trade, the growth and decline of industrial Britain, Brexit and conflict over fishing rights, the conservation of natural resources, and whether it’s ever right to eat fish & chips with gravy.
Chair – Linda Scott
Workshop, YOUR FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, part 1 of 2
3 Ksenia Kopalova & Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva, abstract and biographies
The Near and the Far
4 Tania A. Cardoso
5 Georgie Bennett
Transmediation: Visualising the Transatlantic Slave Trade
6 Linda Scott
7 Robyn Phillips-Pendleton
Friday afternoon, 15th July
8 Schedule for Friday afternoon, 15th July
Translation and Audience Engagement
9 Carolyn Shapiro & Laurence North
10 Dr Rachel Emily Taylor
11 Elaheh Toosheh & Jose Santaemilia
12 Serpil Karaoğlu, Ayşe Defne Akalın & Ilgım Veryeri Alaca
Corporeal Crossings: Reparative Visual Language
13 Anna Logan
14 Johanna Roehr
15 Subir Dey & Monika
Narrative and the Paper Artefact
16 Nigel Owen
17 Clara Daly
18 John Kilburn
Workshop, Anarchic Writing, part 1 of 2
19 Konstantina Benaki Chatzispasou & Myrna Marianovits
Saturday events
20 Schedule for Saturday morning, 16th July
Workshop, YOUR FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, part 2 of 2
3 Ksenia Kopalova & Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva
Transcultural Visual Autobiographies
21 Cecila Hei Mee Flume
22 Sarah Laura Nesti Willard & Urwa Mohammed Tariq
23 Sayra Begum
Dynamics, Power, Trans subjectivity and Ethical Responsibility
24 Mat Osmond
25 Beverley Irving-Edwards
26 Peter Blodau
Intermediary Processes; Narratives in the Margins
27 Paul Jackson
28 Gilly Nevin
Saturday afternoon, 16th July
29 Schedule for Saturday morning, 16th July
Social Maps, Cultural Spaces
30 Adrie Haese
31 Matt Booker
32 Pat WingShan Wong
Cultural Archives: Questioning Heritage
33 Carys Boughton
34 Laura Copsey & Philip Crewe
35 Shreyas R. Krishnan & Aggie Toppins
Workshop, Anarchic Writing, part 2 of 2
19 Konstantina Benaki Chatzispasou & Myrna Marianovits
Plenary Presentation
36 Professor Hilde Kramer: The Transposing Illustrator
How may the contemporary illustrator address topics of shared memory and representation of the Holocaust? Inside Litzmannstadt ghetto Arie Ben Menachem and Mendel Grossman developed graphic collages that seem stunningly modern and bold. As bystanders 80 years later - what can an illustrator do to pay homage to their work?
37 Nanette Hoogslag
The Promise webcomics project
38 Students from MA Illustration Authorial Practice Falmouth and The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) and the Royal Conservatory constitute the School of Arts of University College Ghent