Research Focus

Illustrations often remain visible long after the people who created them have faded from view. In children’s books, educational publications and other printed materials, images shape how generations remember stories, places and childhood experiences. Yet when a book is preserved or rediscovered, we often remember its title, author or publisher, while the people behind its images may be less clearly recognised. This section shifts attention to the illustrators behind these publications, exploring their creative practices, experiences and roles within broader publishing networks.

The Illustrators’ Wall focuses on four women illustrators connected to Whitcombe & Tombs: Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Marian Ellis Rowan, Charlotte Elizabeth James and Esther Paterson. Working across different periods and visual languages, each contributed to Australian publishing and visual culture. Their stories offer a way to consider how women participated in publishing—not only as artists, but as creative practitioners involved in visual storytelling and book production.

Exhibition Experience

Rather than presenting these illustrators simply as “forgotten women artists,” this section asks: whose names remain visible alongside their work, and whose creative contributions become less visible over time? Some achieved wider recognition, while others remain present mainly through signatures, credits or publishing records. Selected illustrations, publications and personal stories reconnect the makers with their images. Accompanying bound books introduce their lives, major works and contributions, while revealing the networks of authors, editors, printers and publishers behind illustration.

While the Illustrators’ Wall asks “Who created these images?”, the Interactive Table asks: “How might these images be encountered and reinterpreted today?”

Transparent cards feature fragments drawn from historical illustrations. Visitors can select, layer and rearrange them, bringing images from different works and makers into new relationships. Their compositions can then be scanned and uploaded to the exhibition website, contributing to a growing digital archive. Rather than taking exhibition materials away, visitors leave behind their own visual response through selection and recomposition.