Luyao Wang

'The Goldfish' is a  beautifully loose expressive book created using watercolour by Luyao Wang for her graduate show from Glasgow School of Art.

"When I was little, fishing for goldfish was all the rage. Every children’s playground had a goldfish pond, and countless children treated it as their weekend pastime. Every week, I would go there and catch five or six goldfish to take home. However, due to my lack of experience in caring for them, and perhaps influenced by the shopkeepers’ advice, I didn’t think twice even if a goldfish died on the way home or just a few hours later; I simply thought I’d catch some more the following week. until one day I caught a black goldfish. Miraculously, it lived in my fishbowl for a whole year. It was only at the moment of its death that I realised these were living creatures, not the ‘toys’ of my childhood. From that moment on, I stopped this activity immediately; whenever I think back on it, I feel an immense sense of cruelty. So I drew a very simple story. In it, a little girl catches goldfish three times. Through catching the black goldfish and watching it grow, she realises that goldfish are not the same as toys, and she never does it again."

Luyao Wang explored the commercialisation of experience and emotions for families and children through Disney, and then beyond in her degree thesis.

"I began to wonder: when happiness is designed and reality is replaced, and contemporary social spaces are no longer neutral venues for experience, are there commercial spaces, much like Disneyland,hat appear joyful yet harbour an emotionalised consumption?" Luyao Wang

Leah Enya Duncan

“The Shape of Understanding”

'This project explores language, accessibility, and the many ways people communicate beyond speech. For some individuals, communication barriers are a daily reality that can lead to exclusion, misunderstanding, and isolation. Influenced by growing up with a non-verbal autistic sister who primarily communicates through gesture and learns Makaton at school, I have witnessed firsthand how communication is often limited not by a person’s ability to express themselves, but by society’s expectation that communication must be verbal.

To communicate with my sister, I learned to adapt my communication style, using gestures, visual cues, patience, and observation. This experience taught me that meaningful communication exists far beyond spoken language and that understanding often requires effort from both sides. The work encourages viewers to reflect on their own assumptions about communication and to recognise non-verbal forms of expression as equally valuable and valid.

The installation transforms the gallery space into an environment of both communication and disconnection. The surrounding walls are covered with text formed from casts of hands spelling British Sign Language (BSL). At first glance, the text appears familiar, resembling written language arranged into paragraphs, yet for many viewers it remains unreadable. Instinctively, audiences attempt to decipher the message, only to encounter a barrier similar to that experienced by many Deaf, non-verbal, and neurodivergent individuals navigating a predominantly verbal world. Deliberately, no translation is provided. Instead, viewers are invited to sit with the discomfort of not understanding and consider the effort often required of marginalised communities to adapt to systems that were not designed for them.'             

  Leah Enya Duncan has just graduated from Glasgow School of Art. 

Jenya Lobanova

 

Jenya Lobanova pen and ink black-and-white illustrations from her book 'The Adventures of Wilson Fur: Journey to the Island of Volcanoes'.

"First of all, I never imagined that I would write stories. I’ve always considered myself an artist rather than a writer, but life pushed me to learn some new skills (though that’s a story for another time!).

I had already written this book, but there was one problem: I wasn’t happy with the illustrations I was creating for it. No matter what I tried, they just didn’t feel right. As a result, the unfinished project sat untouched for an entire year.

Then, during a holiday trip, I took a sketchbook and a few ink pens with me to make nature sketches. And suddenly—everything clicked! I realized that this was exactly how the illustrations for Wilson Fur should look: black-and-white ink drawings.

That simple discovery brought the story back to life and finally allowed me to finish the book.

Funny how sometimes the solution appears when you stop looking for it." Jenya Lobanova

Katja Roberts II

 

Two more images from Katja Roberts her bug occupied cable car and this wonderful hoopoe bearing tea!

Katja Roberts I

 

A great year for ECA illustration with some wonderful artists graduating. This is the charming work of Katja Roberts from her book 'Where there is two'.

Rumeng Chen

 

Rumeng Chen has made over 200 hand built almost human forms with reduced facial features and different body proportions Rumeng asks us to consider in what conditions does a person loose their recognisable human attributes. 

Lola Bradbury Paukner

Lola Bradbury Paukner's illustrations for 'Inda and Agrius', her graduation book, with wonderful line work.

Jessica Bolevin II

 

My second post about Jessica's work and Jessica Bolevin's second graduate book 'The Perfect Stick', in her wonderful spacious style about a child finding the perfect stick, which is then thrown away by a teacher and then retrieved and inspires all of the children to find their perfect sticks.