Impact case study database

Impact on artists, art directors and educatorsEmbury’s research has highlighted and redefined the work of established and emerging artists domestically and internationally to other artists, art directors, educators and the public. It has raised their profile and the work of unknown and early career artists, demonstrating that ‘ there is in fact a thriving community of critically astute reportage illustrators’ ( S1).

As a result of Embury’s research, reportage and documentary drawing is now established and underlined as a distinct practice, outlining its specific journalistic intent, which is unique and different to that of ‘urban sketching.’

A renowned reportage artist and author of The Etiquette of the Arms Trade noted its influence:

*‘Your [Embury’s] research [ R1] has had a profound impact on my understanding of Illustration in general, and Reportage Drawing in particular, demonstrating that they can be critically acute, experimental and an innovate means of research and communication. I realise now that I had internalised a number of prejudices, assuming that illustration is primarily decorative, and that reportage drawing made false claims to objectivity’* ( S1).

Topolski Studio and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital residenciesFeliks Topolski was one of the most prolific and well-known illustrator-artist chroniclers of the 20^th century. His work spans over half a century and his legacy is preserved in the Topolski Studio Residency Programme based in his original studio on the South Bank of London.

Drawing on his own research, Embury co-founded and delivered the studio’s Chronicle Residency Programme starting in 2013. Funded partly by the South Bank Centre and the studio’s external arts activities, the international annual residency has offered thirty six placements in total to selected postgraduate art students. They each received an expenses paid three months’ residency at the Topolski studio, including masterclasses from Embury and internationally renowned reportage artists. This included workshops in printing, culminating in a publication and exhibition in London and nationally.

As part of the residency, students organised public workshops in reportage drawing in and around London’s South Bank. Residents also achieved a Silver Arts Award Qualification, managed by Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England. The award is a personal learning programme which develops and assesses both arts-related and transferable skills, such as creativity, communication, planning and teamwork.

Through the Topolski residency:

*‘Gary has helped to create a community of like-minded practitioners, both on the residency and online on the Reportager website, which has led to more debate around the subject and further opportunities to showcase projects’ ( S2).

Former residents have gone on to make their living as lecturers, curators, artists and researchers. There have so far been six residencies, including a further recent collaboration with the current permanent artist in residence at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in 2018, culminating in an exhibition at the Topolski studio, a permanent residency at the hospital and publication Drawn in Residence ( R2). The Topolski studio residency and the subsequent collaboration with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital are significant as there are currently no discipline-specific postgraduate study opportunities for reportage artists available internationally.

An artist, author and instructor at Parsons School of Design in New York complimented Embury’s work as researcher and practitioner, noting that she had used it as a resource with her own students because it had:

‘brought together many examples of visual journalism and narrative, bringing legitimacy and an academic viewpoint to this important form of communication and citizen journalism’ ( S3).

Awards, exhibitions and impact on public perception of reportageAs part of efforts to promote and highlight this community of artists to the public, Embury founded an international drawing award and exhibition, re-framing the discipline of ‘on the spot drawing’ ( S4). Through an international call for submissions for entries from professional and student artists, the subsequent award and exhibition promoted, initiated, and repositioned the work of artists as reportage and documentary journalistic drawing within a distinct discipline area. This was the first time reportage drawing had been grouped and exhibited within this new discipline of visual journalism. In total 350 images were exhibited, with entries from artists from the US, China, Mexico, Uganda, South Korea and Australia. The International Reportager Drawing Award and exhibition were sponsored by the Milan-based global company Moleskine. The company funded two awards and drawing travel bursaries, one professional award to Chandigarh in India, and a student award to Cuba. The total funding amounted to GBP4,800 in total including two additional Moleskine Special Mention awards totalling GBP250 each.

Reportage as visual journalism was explored by Embury in the multiple journalism, cross media, 2016 project Reflections, culminating in a visual journalistic collaboration involving international journalists, photographers and artists, in the form of a curated parallel exhibition taking place in Nepal and the UK ( S5). ‘ For the first time, someone had started to bring together examples of best practice. It gave the field gravitas’ ( S6).

In 2018, together with The House of Illustration (a London based public arts organisation dedicated to illustration, founded by Sir Quentin Blake), Embury organised a sold out ticketed public lecture in front of 70 attendees followed by a panel discussion. The event brought together five leading practitioners and an art director to discuss the future of reportage drawing ( S7) . The panel discussed the ethics and future of journalistic drawing. This was followed by Embury’s book launch for Reportage Illustration Visual Journalism ( R1) and an exhibition of reportage drawing by leading practitioner and panel member Lucinda Rogers.

A former senior art director of the Times newspaper and House of Illustration panellist said of the research:

‘Whereas Reportage is not a new name inside the industry, it has been the label for a very few artists until now. I feel the name has surfaced quite publicly through Gary's work and has now been quite rightly promoted as a positive and exciting movement’ ( S8).

In July 2019, Embury gave an open public lecture at the V&A in London to an audience of 70 including Alan Male, Emeritus Professor of Illustration at Falmouth University, presenting reportage drawing as a valuable interpreter of contemporary events, offering a different perspective to that of traditional journalism and 24 hour rolling news ( S9). In the presentation, Embury reiterated that reportage illustration was now finding a new and powerful role in the era of fake news and disposable fast-moving media, and that reportage art has re-emerged at a time when we are being bombarded by an endless stream of often confusing images, with no explanation of who made them and for what purpose. This theme was revisited and further discussed in 2019 in an interview for The Journalist magazine’ ( S10).

A renowned reportage artist, working as a visual journalist for many newspapers, for The Times at London’s 2012 Olympics and The Daily Telegraph during the 2018 men’s football World Cup in Russia, praised Embury for his contribution to reportage:

‘Gary has brought together a disparate community and created a vital network in an area where much work is solitary. He has started off a conversation about the future of reportage drawing, demonstrating that it is an activity not merely rooted in the past but with a life in the present and a path towards to the future’ ( S6).