Illustrator Hayley Wall likes “the challenge of distilling something complex into a single image”

The illustrator Hayley Wall’s journey is dotted with belief and empowerment; they was encouraged to follow the career path by their college tutor during Hayley’s final year studying graphic arts and design. They previously had a difficult relationship with education, coming from a small Midlands town: “I wouldn’t have been on this path without the support and encouragement from certain teachers and family who saw potential in me when I didn’t,” she says. “Making pictures is how I communicate, how I make sense of the world, and how I tell stories that I feel are important.” Now, Hayley has found their calling translating feelings the physical body to the illustrated body.

Identity in relation to the world is central to Hayley’s work. “With the political state of the world, things can feel like you’re carrying a weight on your shoulders, therefore hope, community, and interconnectedness are threads that I keep present throughout my work – if you don’t have hope, what do you have?” When interrogating what their work says from the inside out, Hayley sought out publications that aligned with her values and lived experience – their first portfolio addition was for Sick Magazine, an independent magazine by chronically ill and disabled people. The cover art is wonderfully textured and dimensional, Hayley’s way around a vibrant colour palette is careful, considered, and ultimately makes sense for where she wants to take her work.

Her subjects and compositions are rich and full-bodied. “I grew up training to be a dancer and now this movement exists within my illustrations,” Hayley says. Playing with these dynamic shapes, Hayley opens up a new world of sensation. She continues: “The bodies I draw are often a reflection of me but can at times express who I desire to be. They allow me to see myself in different and empowering ways.”

Hayley’s LA Times commission for a story that revisited the #MeToo movement was a particularly standout piece for them, Hayley tells us, “when I reflect on the piece, I remember how charged I was with raw emotion existing in proximity to my own life.” Hayley is thankful to have expressed these feelings on this stage, on such a topic as sexual abuse, which thrives on silence.

Feelings charge Hayley forward. For the Wellcome Collection, her illustrations accompanied a piece on the writer’s adult autism diagnosis. A topic not too often spoken of in context of the adult experience, chronicling the writer’s journey through illustration allowed Hayley to explore their own journey of diagnosis. From this personal series emerged a core tenet of Hayley’s work – journeying.

In terms of Hayley’s methodology, it starts with making sense of a given article or essay – their dyslexia means they reread and highlight meaningful areas. These words thread together, picking up emotions along the way which Hayley pours into the body. When starting to draw, Hayley positions their or a friend's body as reference imagery. It doesn’t just stop at the body, however: “Alongside the bodies, I emphasise the story I’m telling through colour, hand-rendered textures, and metaphorical and symbolic environments.” Not one to be caught up in the literal, Hayley repositions her illustrations and builds “windows into new worlds, inviting the viewer or reader in to form their own interpretation,” she says. Illustration is an extension of worlds for Hayley, of new ideas and new experiences.