re·port·age
• n ( style of) reporting events
• a term for an eye-witness genre of journalism: an individual journalist’s report of news, especially when witnessed firsthand, this style of reporting is often characterized by travel and careful observation.
My practice is reportage through observational drawing. I only work on location and never correct drawings later or redraw from sketches or notes. I never work from secondary sources like photographs and only draw whilst I can observe the subject first hand. A drawing cannot record the ‘real’ like a photograph can, but working only while the subject is present has become my way of truthfully documenting what I see.
It is the artist who is truthful, while the photograph is mendacious; for, in reality, time never stops cold.
Rodin
I have worked as a freelance illustrator since 1995 creating illustrations for surface design. My clients have included: Marks and Spencer, WHSmith, Smythsons, Boots, Cambridge University Press, Clare Maddicott Publications, Phoenix Trading and Atlantic Press.
Since going back to college to complete an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice at University College Falmouth, My practice has moved to drawn reportage.
I dream of travelling around the world making observational drawings to record the events and people I encounter. To this end I have spent four years re-building and restoring the 60ft wooden herring drifter Blue Linnet. I have been living aboard her in various locations in the UK and Ireland since 1999. She is currently based in Cornwall.