Dot-to-dot: drawing connections in lived experience through an illustration process model

How can illustration enrich our understanding and engagement with lived experiences? This practice-based research explores the role of illustration in the study of lived experience through the dual lens of an illustrator-researcher. Drawing on literature in illustration studies, lived experience, and visual research methods, this study argues that illustration serves both as a powerful research method and an effective form of output, offering nuanced engagement with complex life stories shaped by memory, uncertainty, and subjective interpretation.

Employing a hybrid methodology that integrates inductive, qualitative, and interpretative approaches specifically aligned with illustration practice, this research develops and applies the Illustration Process Model, a four-stage framework comprising Inquiry, Incubation, Illumination, and Implication. These iterative stages structure the use of illustration-centred methods—such as drawing, visual interpretation, and collaborative storytelling—to access, engage with, visualise, and disseminate lived experiences.

The study is structured around three case studies situated in culturally and historically distinct contexts: personal family history, the Tamil migrant community in London, and the Jeju female free divers (Jomnyeo). Each explores the interwoven themes of home, identity, and intergenerational memory, while also addressing ethical considerations inherent in participatory and visual research. Across these contexts, illustration reveals home not as a fixed place but as a fluid concept—remembered, adapted, and embedded within lived experience.

The findings affirm that illustration plays a vital role in revitalising the past: as a mode of inquiry that deepens understanding through empathy and imagination; a representational tool that translates intangible experiences into visual form; a catalyst for dialogue fostering collective engagement with memory and history; and a participatory practice enabling co-creation and deeper community involvement.

By repositioning illustration beyond its conventional role as a supplement to text, this thesis establishes it as an active mode of knowledge production that contributes to processing, interpreting, and transmitting lived experience. By bridging past and present, illustration creates meaningful connections, reshaping how lived experiences are understood, remembered, and carried forward into the future