Global Contexts - Mark Wigan

I read this book cover to cover early on in the summer to try and trigger something in my mind that I might be interested in exploring. Now that I am narrowing down towards a more specific area of interest I have decided to go through this book again and pick out the relevant information that could now help me. 

'Illustration has long been used as a cultural tool of communication to inform, provoke, persuade and entertain. As such, it has made an important contribution to our interpretation and understanding of the world. Images have transmitted patterns of behaviour and advanced a range of intellectual and social processes, which in turn have led to the formation of of groups of people around the world.’ p13

’The world needs illustration now more than ever to make sense of human interactions, tell stories and to pictorially interpret our lives.' p13

‘Illustrators are visual communicators, problem-solvers, storytellers and visual journalists….’ p16

‘Throughout history, illustration has long been employed as a powerful tool with which to comment on a wide range of social issues and influence the thinking of the day.’ p35

Meaningful Illustration - ‘exemplars that captured the spirit of their time with great empathy…’ … ‘Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), …, painted the groundbreaking ‘Guernica’ in 1937 to express his revulsion at the bombings carried out during the Spanish Civil War.’ p39

'During the upheaval of the Peasants War of 1524-26 and the long religious wars that followed, illustrators commonly used the visual codes of allegory, allusive caricature and satire to question and denounce clerics and rulers. Allegorical images described narratives beyond their literal interpretations and their use of extended metaphor by illustrators could avoid censorship.’

‘The biggest challenge facing visual communicators in today’s global marketplace is creating a meaning for people in an international context. In order to produce work that crosses cultural divides, visual communicators must study the differences between cultures and populations.’ p87

‘Illustration can communicate in place of written and spoken language and can be used as a tool to promote social justice and respect for different cultures, as well as to entertain and sell products.’ p87

Chapter Five: Head, heart and hand. 116-137

‘As illustrators, everything that happens in the world is our potential subject matter and we must be open to a broad and diverse range of opinions and ideas.’ p116

‘Throughout history, illustration has pricked the conscience of society, challenging orthodoxies, raising questions and speaking truth to those in authority. The life-affirming power of the illustrator comes from having a singular vision, self-knowledge and independence of thought. ‘ p116

**Professor Richard Guyatt

‘The world is now facing numerous threats, which are making everybody aware of their global responsibilities.’ p116

‘By engaging head, heart and hand illustrators can contribute to positive change.’ p116

‘Critical thinking allows illustrators to place their work in a context that questions society and culture; this enables the to take responsibility for promoting change and draw attention to social and political concerns and the physical impact of the over-consumption of commodities.’ p119

‘Drawing is also a form of seeing, thinking, responding, discovering, sensing and reflecting; as such it is both a creative and cognitive activity.’ p128

‘Illustrators have a big responsibility. By engaging head, heart and hand [they] can promote tolerance, diversity, social justice, encourage dialogue, cooperation, interpret content and communicate alternative ways of dealing with these problems through their work and their interaction with others.’ p132

'As illustrators, we can affect change, even if those changes are on a relatively small scale, for example carefully choosing which products or services to work with and which products or services to endorse.’ p132

‘…many designers and illustrators are increasingly aware of their ethical responsibilities and offer their services at reduced rates or free to charities, community groups and organisations whose values they align with.’ p132

‘Collectives … aim to work in harmony and co-ordinate their efforts to realise common goals.’ p152

This book has a very matter of fact way of talking about things so it is a good one for getting basic information from. I realise that this blogpost is basically copied phrases from the book with little explanation about them, however the statements are very self explanatory. I feel like these might be useful to reference when introducing my dissertation topic as it holds the basis to what I am developing my question from. There is also a lot of relevant pieces of work in this book so it might be a good one to hold on to if I am looking for specific illustrators or artworks to study in more depth later on into my research process.