My life, at the moment

Drawing experiments

I rarely get time these days to draw in my sketchbook.
But here are a few results from my recent holiday and from messing around with my children.

International Labour migration academy

At the end of last year I did a graphic facilitation for the ILO (International labour organisation - a subdivision of the UN). They host an annual academy on labour migration in Turin Italy where there is a traning centre specifically for the ILO. In the light of Africa's central role in migration, South Africa was selected as the first external host for the training academy.

It was a very interesting 4 days, long intense discussions with ample opportunity to get thoroughly confused about delegates were talking about. But once I had my head around the jargon and abbreviations, things were a bit easier.

In essence the academy was about "Enhancing Protection, Promoting Sustainable Development and
Facilitating Fair and Effective Labour Migration Governance." There are about 150 million migrant workers around the world. Migration is linked directly or indirectly to the pursuit of employment and security. Although there is sufficient evidence that migrant workers contribute to the economy of their destination countries, it presents complexities in terms of regulation, the protection of workers, harmful perceptions of migration workers etc.

I captured the introductory talks of the day in the plenary where all the delegates were present. I then moved around between different electives in other rooms. When conversations became technical or adminstrative, I resorted to drawing portraits of the delegates. Where it made sense, captured snapshots of the presentations and drew a combined summary of the morning or afternoon sessions.
Below are some of the results.

Can I call you back? No1

Things have been so busy the last year that I completely neglected doing any personal or sketchbook work. Commercial work stretches my skills and problem solving capabilities -  my personal work keeps the flame for illustration burning. In my little universe, I need both to be my best. So for the last few weeks, I put a little time aside daily to work on a personal series  of illustrations called "I'll call you back." Here is the first result. You don't have to have eight children to feel like this.

Africa Evidence Network Conference

The Africa Evidence Network (AEN) conference was held from 20-22 September at the CSIR in Pretoria.  I was privileged to do the graphic facilitation at this fantastic event and to be submerged into a subculture that I did not know existed. The AEN is a collection of researchers (social political, scientific, environmental etc) and policy makers that aim to bridge the gap between research and policy decisions. Policy decisions in government is often not informed enough by research. Some of the reasons are that the policy makers are not aware of the research that is being done, the research is not in plain understandable language and other factors, such as politics, take priority in decision making. The AEN aims to connect these the different parties to create an environment where it is easier to make evidence informed policy decisions. Apart from the interesting people and content, it was also the best organised conference I have attended. Well done to the Conference Consultancy team!

Portrait of Matthys

Two years ago, I was commissioned to do conceptual portraits of a filmmaker friend of mine, Matthys Boshoff, and his associate.The plan was to use the illustrated portraits as their profile pictures on the website. In addition to interviewing them, they mailed me personality assessments of each other. Some of it was hilarious and some of it very real - one's oddities and weaknesses cannot be hidden from someone you work so closely with. I was given creative freedom to blend their interests, personalities, passions and eccentricities into conceptual portraits that would characterize them. It was a delightful project and I was very happy with the result.

And now, Matthys has won an award for a short film he directed! Below is the portrait, an interview
with him and a link to a trailer of his short film, "Vlees van my vlees." Well done Matthys!

September illustration for GO magazine

Here is the September editorial illustration for GO magazine.

"With two small children who only nap in the car, Jon Minster has done a lot of random driving over the past few years. But it has also given him the opportunity to explore…"