Collaborating with illustrator Ben Thomas, we have embarked on a journey of taking the ethnographic written text and converting it into an ‘ethno-graphic’ novel. This piece presents the evolution of working with single images, organising single images into a sequence amplified with interview transcripts, to the creation of comic panels. Each sequence explores the qualities illustration can bring to ethnography: empathetic empathy, ethnographic anonymity, alternative modes of storytelling, and representing the intangible elements of participant’s everyday lives. Whilst this project is in-process, the potential of graphic anthropology, as an interdisciplinary activity, to aid the communication and analysis of ethnographic research beyond disciplinary boundaries offers new pathways for academic and empathetic exchange.
Key Words collaboration, illustration, graphic anthropology, visual methods, empathetic ethics