Cynthia Kingsley-Smith
Illustration



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Reading & Research

This week: 

PHOTOGRAPHY

While I need to improve at taking pictures, I try to attend rallies for positive social change and protests such as Pride every year. These experiences are deeply important and personal for me and so form part of my motivation for pursuing this brief. Partially as a response to this, I really wanted to create something that could be held at a rally - so I decided that for my intial outcome I would pursue a flag. This is a really exciting concept to me, as I’ve never pursued such a unique traditional outcome. Additionally, the opportunity to work with textiles is something that I find very interesting, especially as a printmaking output. 


Anti fascism rally, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Sept. 2025

Artist Research + Moodboard

Theresa Easton, thrifty tips, screenprint and letterpress.

I spotted this piece by north-east based printmaker and lecturer Theresa Easton in Northern Print studio gallery. There are numerous formal elements at play here that I think are aesthetically sound and very relevant to the direction my own practice is going:

               I love the way the typography is sized and placed within the layout. The largest grey elements grab the eye first, then they slowly cascade towards the smaller red text at the bottom                            then naturally lift the gaze back up towards the top of the piece. 

               I think the expressive marks in the spaces between the typography create a really interesting juxtaposition with the clean looking letterpress text that creates a super visceral image. I                        think this is much more interesting than if it was just plain negative space. 

               The limited colour palette works really effectively here to make the folk-sy wisdom “pop!” out of the image.
 
Overall, prior to starting my work - I took inspiration from my Skills Development brief and I looked at a massive number of artists who are politically active and have particiapated in Creative Conscience briefs from previous years - I collated a number of my favourite works into a moodboard. These mostly consisted of poster designs with graphic illustrative properties. 



a


Sharon Francesme

I adore lots of the social justice work by Sharon Francesme. I think it’s a really strong example of what can be achieved in this conceptual space with this medium (even with the limited colour palette!) and I’d love to do an artist response to this work next module. 




Reading


For this project, I read Hope in the Dark by author and political activist Rebecca Solnit. While there is a massive and varied amount of concepts are presented in the book, these are the ones I found particularly interesting and I used as inspiration to help inform my practice: 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories
https://commonslibrary.org/review-hope-in-the-dark-by-rebecca-solnit/
https://theresaeaston.wordpress.com/
https://www.sharonjoyfrances.com/social-justice-art-and-education
https://www.anisamakhoul.com/pages/about
https://www.kathleenneeley.com/#/abolish-ice/
https://lydia-shaw.com/
https://hannahbananadesigns.squarespace.com/about
https://808812.cargo.site/work-and-commissions
https://www.erinbashford.co.uk/portfolio
https://shrugstudio.bigcartel.com/about-us


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