• BA Illustration

Folktales

Zoë McCarthy

How can illustration be used to visualise comparative folklore? Comparative folklore is a branch of folkloristics, comparing and contrasting folklore across cultures. This body of work tackles these topics through illustration, animation and making, highlighting the power of images to communicate narratives.
'Folktales' aims to make this academic field of research more approachable through three outcomes. 'Fadó' is a hand-drawn animation exploring multiple folktales from forests across Europe. It is accompanied by an audio track of people telling local folktales in their own language. In 'Relativity of Time', an illustrated card set simultaneously tells two tales from opposite sides of the world. Finally, 'Shapeshifters' is a set of clay dolls highlighting the roles of animals and shapeshifting in global folklore. Through folklore we can learn about ourselves and other cultures. It serves to prove that there can be many different versions of the same story.

Zoe is a 2021 RSA Student Design Award Winner receiving this year’s Chartered Institute of Marketing Award for her animation 'How to be a Good Ancestor'. The work explores climate change through an ancestor character, evoking optimism and causing viewers to recognise themselves and the problems we all face.