Time After Time Illustrated and Written By... A Virtual Gallery of International Illustration Research 2024

Into the 21st century, a criticality in the framing of illustration as a unique discipline with its own research methods and approaches is required for the field to transcend professional practice. Whether this gallery does that is in the eye of the beholder. In its ongoing anamorphous state, illustration practice crosses transdisciplinary boundaries of traditional academic disciplines and professional disciplines. Illustration sits outside the gallery and academy, as implicit professional practice embedded in our everyday.

This exhibition is a world first in showcasing a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed process for Illustration research projects, and allowing researchers to showcase their projects and assist in recognising illustration practice as non-traditional research, helping to build a stronger narrative for the recognition of illustration as research. Regardless of the outcomes in the exhibition, this is the consensus of the field as it stands to date as a litmus test of the now. It highlights the challenges and experimental nature of this project, alongside the wrestle with subjectivity that occurs within peer-reviewed creative research. It has been a complex process navigating subjectivity and the role words still have in communicating impact, how we intellectualise research and adhering to and inviting international participants to respond to two Australian University non-traditional research policies. This exhibition publishes a diverse transnational perspectives on the current landscape of illustration research with 25 global institutions represented.