SYMPOSIUM
The Human Illustrator

_{Mon 22 June 2026, 9:30 – 14:30
Camberwell, Wilson Road}

What is the role of the human illustrator in an age of technological change? This symposium brought together 10 speakers in an attempt to redefine and reassert the roles and responsibilities of human illustrators in an AI-mediated environment.
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Sifting through Shadows
(Reading Group, session 2)

_{Tue 21 April 2026, 16:30 – 18:00
Camberwell, Wilson Road BB01}

For the second meeting of our Reading Group Haiqi Yang invited us to read Jaleen Grove’s recent article ‘What is illustration? A shadowy definition for illustration research’ published in The Journal of Illustration. Read more

Talk and discussion:
Collaboration in illustration research

_{Tue 10 Feb 2026, 16:30 – 18:00,
LCC, Elephant & Castle, Lecture Theatre C}

With presentations by Juliet Sugg, Yu Feng and Jayoon Choi. Chair: Luise Vormittag.
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Paranoid Reading
(Reading Group, session 1)

_{Tue 2 Dec 2025, 16:30 – 18:00
Camberwell, Wilson Road BB01}

In our first Reading Group session we read Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s seminal essay Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading (2003), the perfect text to initiate a discussion about how and why we read in illustration research.
Hosted by Esther McManus.
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Doodling, sketching, colouring in… What are illustration research methods?

_{19 June 2025, LCC}

With presentations by Gabrielle Cariolle, Haiqi Yang, Miriam Elgon, Yuqiao Zheng. Chair: Paul Jackson.
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Whose vision, whose voices?
Refugee narratives in graphic communication design

_{11 Feb 2025, LCC}

With presentations by Hayfaa Al-Chalabi and Mathilda Della Torre. Chair: Nina Mickwitz
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From the Association of Illustrators’ archive

_{25 Nov 2024, Camberwell}

With presentations by Derek Brazell (AOI), Adrian Shaughnessy, John O’Reilly and Olivia Ahmad.
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Research introductions: Paul Jackson and Luise Vormittag

_{11 June 2024, LCC}

An introduction to Paul Jackson’s ongoing PhD research on editorial illustration and its processes of world-making, and Luise Vormittag’s project Colouring In.

Research introductions: Ian Horton and Rachel Emily Taylor

_{16 April 2024, Camberwell}

An introduction to Ian Horton’s ongoing work in the Hard Werken archives in Rotterdam, and Rachel Emily Taylor’s recently published monograph Illustration & Heritage (2024).