Blog 2
How Better Lives Will Impact My Work in The Future as An Image Maker
As a fashion illustrator in 2020 our role as image makers is becoming more and more impactful when it comes to sustainability. Vogue Italia’s January 2020 issue marked a bold step towards change in the fashion industry. The magazine replaced all their usual photographs with fashion illustrations in the name of sustainability. The publication was “created without travelling, shipping entire wardrobes of clothes or polluting in any way” (Farneti, 2020). I believe in the future, many magazines will follow in Vogue Italia’s footsteps and become more conscious of the way their publication can negatively impact the environment. This is heightened by living in a world plagued by Covid-19 where “In the UK, the shutdown has already seen a huge leap in air quality with measurements of toxic small particulate matter down by as much as 50 per cent in some major cities.”(Cockburn, 2020). This will hopefully bring attention to the climate crisis and help world leaders to see how change once thought of as impossible is now happening.
As an Illustrator I have the skills to promote this change through my artistic voice. I feel a sense of responsibility to create artwork that can make a change (such as the Vogue Italia publication) by being a more sustainable alternative to photography. However, I also have the choice to use my illustrations as a way of spreading the message of sustainability. As someone who regularly uploads artwork to Instagram, I have now become aware of the opportunity I have to use my artistic voice to spread a sustainable message. One way I have done this is by showing my support for the organisation ‘Fashion Revolution’ by illustrating women wearing their slogan and sharing their promotional material. Fashion Revolution believes the global fashion industry needs “systemic change in order to tackle poverty, economic inequality, gender inequality, climate change and environmental degradation.”. After the better lives project I am going to take more responsibility as an individual and image maker and continue to consider sustainability more in my artwork and future as an illustrator.
References
- Anon, 2018. Fashion Revolution written evidence to the ‘Sustainability of the fashion industry’ inquiry, U.K. Environmental Audit Committee. Fashion Revolution. Available at: https://www.fashionrevolution.org/fashion-revolution-written-evidence-to-the-sustainability-of-the-fashion-industry-inquiry-u-k-environmental-audit-committee/ [Accessed April 30, 2020].
- Cockburn, H., 2020. Greener, more equal economy must emerge after impact of coronavirus, experts say. The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/coronavirus-economy-green-equality-climate-change-covid-19-a9430616.html [Accessed April 30, 2020].
- Farneti, E, Vogue Italia’s Instagram photo: “*NO PHOTOSHOOT PRODUCTION WAS REQUIRED IN THE MAKING OF THIS ISSUE A preview of the January 2020 Vogue Italia Special Issue on newsstands…”. Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/B602AOPK0LH/?utm_source=ig_embed [Accessed April 30, 2020].
6th May 2020 @ 2:33 pm
After reading a number of my peers’ blogs, I was drawn to Eleanor’s second blog post discussing how Better Lives is going to impact her work in the future as an image maker. The way she has written this blog is very clear and concise and I have found what she has written to be useful to my own practice as she too studies fashion imaging and illustration. She has very carefully discussed the topic of sustainability, which is something I deeply care about. I loved how she mentioned Vogue Italia’s January 2020 issue, which is a perfect example of how the fashion world is taking small steps to become more sustainable, as this edition was uniquely made up of just illustration, rather than photographs. Fashion illustration can help reduce the fashion industry’s carbon footprint as there is no need to pollute the world via travel and by shipping clothes across the world.
I think it is interesting to see how she has linked the better lives topic of sustainability to our current situation of Covid 19. She has highlighted how what once was deemed impossible is now completely possible (an attitude I love), in terms of making a change in pollution levels. She stated that toxic air pollution levels have decreased by 50% since everyone has put their lives on pause, but before Covid 19 this fact would have seemed completely unrealistic. This makes me believe there is hope for our future and how we can make changes to our lifestyle and practices to create a more sustainable future.
I feel inspired by how she deems her role as a fashion illustrator and image maker, saying that it’s her responsibility to create artwork that can make a change and that its through her artistic voice that she can use illustration as a way of spreading the message of sustainability. In my blogs I talked about how in my practice I’m aiming to be more sustainable in terms of materials I use, for example re-using and recycling old illustrations and old paper but from reading Eleanor’s posts, I feel I can do more than this. She mentioned Instagram and how she uses it as a platform to promote positivity, this is something I need to do. I want to create artwork that has a deeper message about sustainability and our future.
I think her third post was also insightful, she spoke about diversity, and how important it is. The fashion industry’s normal standard of model is a size zero and this is incredibly detrimental on the way people perceive themselves, sparking eating disorders. She (as do I) wants to change the typical representation of people in the industry. I definitely strive to illustrate a diverse range of people in my illustrations, people of all ages, shapes and sizes.