„ILLUSTRATION SPEAKS ALL LANGUAGES: Awards of the Book Illustration Festival BookILL fest 2012–2017”Edited by M. A. Senka Vlahović
At the beginning of the third millennium,
illustration is experiencing a unique boom made possible by different factors
borne by the time in which we are living: virtual surroundings which provided
every segment of human action, and therefore illustration as well, with
entirely new possibilities for placement and communication with target groups;
circumstances in art itself, in which the boundaries between fine and popular
art are being erased, with artwork already being treated as text and as part
of the communication process for a long time (and with illustration, as a
relationship between images and words that was elaborated for centuries, by
using a powerful communication code – the visual code, representing visual text
surrounded by various contexts); followed by an increase in the number of
editions of every type of publication, especially on-line publication; an
increase in the market supply of all types of merchandise, with illustration
also finding its place on everyday household items, packaging and the like, on
the apex of the ideology of the consumer society; the media expansion within
which illustration is unquestionably present; the world of marketing, PR,
branding, brand creation, unimaginable without illustration, fights its
harsh battle on the market of various human activity.
In addition to
man’s basic existential dimensions of life, there has always been that other
world, surrounding him in the contemporary age, by way of written, spoken, visually
presented, audio-visual or theatrical dimension. We see that the creators of
this world, who are supposed to fulfil man’s spiritual life, certainly have
their hands full, which could also be said for illustrators (but definitely not
as much as those who produce spectacles). Therefore, the supply of products of
man’s spiritual activity has increased, but so did man’s need for them, given
that he is now greatly used to different contents received through the
internet, television, books, over the phone, at every step, knowing exactly what
he desires and what he wants to consume and is ready to pay for it. It is in
this increased supply and demand that illustration is also searching for its
place today. When the market is oversaturated and economy is losing the race
with finding the answer to problem solving, the creative sector, creative
economy and creative industries lead the way, aware of the gift, talent and
ability of certain people to draw from the inexhaustible source of the spirit,
and be more competitive thanks to this.
In this
context of the beginning of the third millennium, illustration is experiencing
a unique boom, due to the fact that the mentioned circumstances are in its
favour. It is important to emphasize that theory is following illustration in
this regard, only now becoming more seriously involved in the study of
illustration, by setting more serious definition platforms, reviewing previous
ones, dealing with the national histories of illustration...
And not only
that, illustration is, today, defined in a far wider manner when it comes to
certain artists and theorists – illustration is every visual message
surrounding us, every image is an illustration, even an animated image within
the audio-visual form, it can be completely independent from words, it can
contain a message inside its very self and it is equal to other art forms. This
position did not belong to illustration at an earlier time, for example in the
middle of the last century.
In the context
of everything that was said above appears the phenomenon of the Festival of
Book Illustration BookILL fest, founded in the economically, but not
spiritually, modest, European state of Serbia, that reached, for a very short
time, serious proportions in every sense: in territorial distribution, the
number of authors from a large number of countries, the quality of
illustrations...
The Festival
of Book Illustration BookILL fest was founded by the Banat Cultural Centre from
Novo Miloševo in 2012. In the last six years, the Festival is held at the Novi
Sad Fair as part of the International Book Fair. BookILL fest includes an
internet competition for the best book illustration, an exhibition of the
printouts of selected and awarded works, the announcement of the winner, the
award ceremony and accompanying programs.
Since the
establishment of the Festival, the artistic council/jury operates in the
following composition – Slobodan Ivkov (President), M. A. Sibila Petenji
Arbutina and M. A. Senka Vlahović.
The awards are
presented in four categories: illustration of a poetry book, illustration of
a prose book, illustration of a children’s book (of all genres) and
photo-illustration of a book. In addition to this, every year, the jury also
awards praises and special recognitions in all categories, including those
outside the main awards categories (e.g. illustrations of theoretical books,
bibliophile editions, author projects...).
By classifying
the awards into categories, the specificities of illustrations of different narratives
are emphasized. Although works submitted in the category of illustration of
children’s books prevail, which really is a reflection of the presence of this
kind of illustration in practice, illustrations of prose and poetry books for
adults as well as photo-illustrations (for children as well as for adults) are
also differentiated. This type of demarcation according to genre is not accidental
because the target group and the narrative direct the illustrator to approach
the illustration of a book in a different manner, under the influence of editors,
publishers, the budget, and other factors.
Photo-illustration
is a novelty when it comes to illustration awards. We are not familiar
whether a reward in this category is awarded anywhere else in the world. A
photograph on the cover of a book is currently the most prevalent form of
illustration when it comes to, for example, prose books, and the topic of
photo-illustration is not yet properly addressed by the professional public,
although photography as a form of illustration is indisputably mentioned
in literature.
It is also
important to mention that a traditional cooperation with the International
House of Art for Children Bibiana from Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Gallery
of Naïve Art Babka from Kovačica (Serbia) was established during the course of
the festival, with an aim to host an exhibition of the Biennial of Illustration
in Bratislava, one of the most important in the world, as an accompanying
program, every year during the exhibition of the festival BookILL fest, with the
support of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovakia in Serbia. In this manner,
these two exhibitions sum up, in a single place, illustrations from all over
the world.
The Festival
of Book Illustration BookILL fest has, statistically speaking, achieved the following
numbers during its six years of existence. In the first year, 2012, the competition
has received around 400 illustrations by 61 authors, and around 150 works by 47
authors from Serbia and 10 other countries were selected for the exhibition. In
2017, during the last, sixth Festival, these numbers are as follows: around
2000 illustrations by 188 authors, with 180 works by around 150 authors from
Serbia and as much as 27 countries selected for the exhibition! It is obvious
from the above that the number of submitted works has increased 5 times, that
the number of authors has increased 3 times and that the number of countries
has increased nearly 3 times.
Quantity is
certainly never more important than quality, but these figures still do reflect
this phenomenon of illustration, its multiple polyvalent nature, its wealth and
power to overcome barriers, especially in the era of internet communications
and digital multimedia.
During the six
Festivals of Book Illustration BookILL fest that were held, through the
awarded works and all of the authors mentioned in this book, it is evident
that illustration, indeed, knows no boundaries, in terms of:
–
nationalities or languages (the participation of authors from over 30
countries of the world, of different nationalities, traditions, language);
– geography –
the centre of gathering of the mentioned authors, i.e. the point of operation,
is a small country of Serbia, and even the organizers are not from the Serbian
capital, but from a small town of Novo Miloševo and the provincial capital of
Novi Sad;
– genre (there
are illustrations of children’s books, poetry, prose, theoretical books,
author projects...);
– techniques
(all techniques of drawing and painting are present, as well as collage, computer
graphics, mixed media, photography...);
–
communication (fast and easy realization of the competition around the world
and obtaining information about the Festival via the Internet, easy publishing
of works through on-line exhibitions...);
– art (there
is a multitude of original and diverse art handwork with personal, poetic,
national and various other characteristics).
These,
however, are not characteristics specific only for our festival, these are
the characteristics of illustration in general in times of intensive visual
communications, but this festival really is a specific testimony of everything
that was mentioned above.
See the
award-winning illustrations in this book and experience the unequivocal visual
communication with authors from Serbia, England, Russia, Mexico, Portugal,
France, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, China, Spain... Feel the spirit of the
books in which they were published, experience the emotions of their characters,
the drama of the subjects of poetry and the innocence of children’s dreams,
and you will realize that you too, through illustration, understand every
language of the world!
M.A. Senka
Vlahović,
Director and
Founder of the Festival
