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- Qualifications:PhD “Illumination through Illustration: Positioning illustration as practice-led research”. Undertaken with support from an AHRC Doctoral Award. UWE Bristol; Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice. Plymouth University; MA by Project (Design). UWE Bristol; BA Hons Visual Communication: Illustration. Glasgow School of Art; Fellow of the HEA.
- Department:College of Arts, Technology and Environment Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries, and Education (ACE)
- Email:Stephanie2.Black@uwe.ac.uk
About me
Academic Background
Dr. Stephanie Black is Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader of the BA Illustration course. She holds a PhD from UWE Bristol, where her thesis, “Illumination through Illustration: Positioning illustration as practice-led research”, was supported by an AHRC Doctoral Award. Her qualifications also include an MA by Project (Design) from UWE Bristol, a Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice from Plymouth University, and a BA (Hons) in Visual Communication (Illustration) from Glasgow School of Art. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research Interests
Dr. Black’s research centres on illustration as a critical and epistemological practice, with a particular emphasis on practice-led methodologies. Her work investigates the role of illustrative practices as tools for knowledge production, exploring how illustration can serve as a mode of inquiry and reflection.
Her interests also extend to reflective nostalgia and critical illustration practice, particularly in relation to the political affordances of the image. Through the collaborative research project Colouring In (https://www.colouring-in.com/), she worked with Dr. Luise Vormittag to examine how illustration examines and contributes to discussions of globally important issues.
Internationally, Dr. Black has been affiliated with the Illuminating the Non-Representable project (https://illuminating.no/), a cross-disciplinary initiative that investigates how illustration might contend with the non-representable. She was also co-convenor of HATCH with Dr. Lynn Imperatore, an umbrella for collaborative cross- disciplinary drawing research projects.
Her research has been widely disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, international conferences, exhibitions, and interdisciplinary collaborations, consistently contributing to the evolving discourse around illustration as a research practice.
Illustration Practice
Dr. Black’s research mostly arises from and is conducted through practice, of authorial and commissioned varieties. Her tools span drawing, collage, moving image, and artist’s books, often combining analogue and digital techniques to explore its subject matter. Her work is rooted in a reflective and authorial approach, using visual media to interrogate cultural and social themes. This practice has been exhibited, screened, and presented internationally in galleries, festivals, academic conferences, and film platforms. Through projects such as Plume of Feathers and a series of music video collaborations, she continues to explore the performative and immersive potential of illustration across diverse contexts and audiences.
Publications
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