Bethan Mure
Drawing the Line: An exhibition of Reportage and Documentary Drawing, in Collaboration with Bristol City Council Scrutiny Team.
The Foyer, Bristol City Council house, College Green. Until 20th June 2014.
A team of Reportage and Documentary Illustration students from The University of the West of England Illustration Degree sketched and illustrated for two scrutiny reviews: Developing a Vision for Bristol’s Night Time Economy and A Review of Bristol Youth Links as well as the last Full Council meeting of the year, where topics included freckling and residents parking.
The aim of the collaboration was both to provide practice opportunities for students while also creating a different and more expressive kind of event record. A further area of interest was displayed with regards to how the involvement of the artist enhanced the work and the output of the day.
Scrutiny participants expressed that the student’s presence added considerably to the creative process of the working groups. With the images vividly portraying the intent, atmosphere and interactivity of a scrutiny inquiry day like no photo or written report could. The sketches captured the richness, variety of human experience and activity that is embedded in the Council’s day-to-day work and history, which is often invisible to the general public.
Reportage artists have to be capable of making rapid, descriptive drawings on location. Their illustrations must be executed with the instinct and intuition of a journalist, so that they know what to put in and what to leave out.
Exhibiting Artists: Harry Morgan, Bethan Mure, Imogen Clowes, Sophia Jowett, Shauna Summers, Jacob Merrick-Wolf, Robbie Cathro, Joe Munroe, Gwion Christmas.