Illustration Collaboration 11

In a series of posts, we are delighted to share the artworks that third year Edinburgh College of Art illustration students created in response to texts by our Citizen Writing Group.

Aner Wang

The Final Conversation by Julia Graves

When you were dying, I

told jokes, bounced the air

like a balloon. Hid

the pain, no point

in dwelling. Some days

I travelled in that grey

elevator, full of strangers

and mum, fighting back tears

thinking I can’t do this. Couldn’t

be that person making light

conversation about suffering

and football scores. What did I

know about suffering and football?

Yutong Lu

Then after you died, I continued

to fill your shoes, making jolly

conversation, playing fast and lose

with truth. My partner noticed

how I was around my mum: different,

lighter, on the same page. Because

Ally McKay

the unstoppable trait to cheer-up the world

is written in my DNA. The unstoppable trait to joke

about death - when it scares me shitless -

is hard-wired within me. This is our way

of coping.

Katherine Chen

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We are extremely grateful to the Third Year Illustration students at Edinburgh College of Art, and Harvey Dingwall for making this collaboration possible. The Citizen Writing Group is part of Citizen, our flagship communities project which is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and through the PLACE Programme (funded by the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, and the Edinburgh Festivals, and supported and administered by Creative Scotland).