The document discusses the role and power of illustrators as storytellers. It states that unlike journalists or photographers, illustrators can empathize with and understand different perspectives of a situation. Illustrators can convey the "plight" or difficulties of others in a way that connects with people on a human level through visual storytelling. The document encourages using these storytelling abilities in illustration to shed light on difficult or unpleasant topics that are often conveyed through statistics or journalism in a way that helps people understand and engage with important issues.

1. ‘Plight’
Pronunciation:/plʌɪt/nouna dangerous, difficult, or otherwise
unfortunate situation:
‘ we must direct our efforts towards relieving the plight of children

2. Unlike the journalist…

4. …the illustrator stands outside un-noticed, the illustrator empathises
and sits next to you holding your hand without you realising… the
illustrator whispers softly doesn’t scream but makes a more penetrating
noise. The illustrator speaks more clearly, using voices which can be
understood, the illustrator has a stance, but can move in and around
that stand point, gaining perspective, understanding. The illustrator
lends an eye to the unseen, or the blind or blotted out…

5. unlike photography…

7. Which one can misunderstand or become numb to, which one
encounters constantly and thus can easily ignore…

8. The illustrator can take another approach…

9. You might say it’s no country for old men.
Russia, that is. Since the breakup of the
Soviet Union, Russians have been
increasingly ravaged by disease and
death. And one of the main reasons is the
nation’s favorite drink. There’s so much
vodka going down the throats of so many
Russians, life expectancy for men has
fallen to just 60 years old – about the same
as in Myanmar and Haiti.
(http://www.theworld.org/2010/02/alcoholism-a-national-disaster-in-russia/)

10. The illustrator can tell a story…

11. In contrast to statistics we go inside have a cup of
tea and ask questions…

12. Tsunami

21. So the story we are telling helps more people
understand and possibly wish to help or a least
become informed…

22. Africa Conference

23. Politics

25. Metaphor

26. Allegory

28. * The plight, or sense of plight that the illustrator
can convey, as storyteller and image maker is
powerful, it can have a moral stance, or
empathetic, or both; most importantly the need is
to connect in a human way to the needs or stories
of others and in that be able to recognise
ourselves.

29. In your last module, Narrative and Drawing methodologies, your
focus was visual storytelling, storytelling for imaginative
purposes. In ‘Influence’ you are asked to explore the
notions of storytelling, the boundaries and the possibilities of
it, to discover ways in which illustration can convey
information that is often difficult, unpleasant, dull, dreary, or
ordinarily journalistic, i.e. written about or photographed.
The aim is to carve new niches for ‘Documentary Illustration’ in
Project 1.
Through ‘Plight’ explore and utilise
these possibilities.

30. ‘The eye of a human being is a microscope which
makes the world seem bigger than it really is.’
Kahlil Gibran