Yosef Phelan renders storytelling in pencilled motion

Irish-Palestinian illustrator Yosef Phelan’s work is an exploration into heritage, both jagged and rounded in exclamations in violent ends and heartfelt stories of generational traumas and unapologetic identity. His work shouts to stay, with location and belonging being a resounding element of his work. The red string threads through his closest connections, having developed his illustrative process through collaborations with fellow creatives, musicians, drag queens, etc, all through college. Yosef studied Visual Communications Design at TU Dublin. His Irish-Palestinian identity informs the expression of his core values and passions.

Faces of recombinated features, his most striking static piece features hollowed eyes and a haunting grimace, hunched into a crouched body in contrasts of red and blue. This oil and acrylic on canvas, titled Taking Cover, is in a resignified violence – it is depicted not in stark photorealism, but emits such an energy that, by Yosef’s hand, oil and acrylic become blood and flesh. This piece was a part of a wider showing in Harsh Roads, a collection exhibited at Lisbon’s Prisma Studio, alongside standouts Two Snakes, lino print on fabric, and Hyena, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas.

Harsh Roads draws inspiration from Yosef’s conversations with his father, this dialogue serving as a window into his life growing up in Palestine and the years thereafter. Taking these recordings, Yosef used pen and paper to draw each frame by hand. He says, “A huge goal of mine is to make work that is personal feel universal, and I think this piece speaks to that”. An ambition for this project is to animate his father’s story into short film format. Having moved back to Dublin after some time in London, Yosef’s family home becomes another point of gathering – “My dad loves gardening, and has made it a vibrant space full of colour and ever evolving inspiration,” he says. Connections are at the heart of Yosef’s artistic process.

Preservation and archiving is core to Yosef’s work – in Palestine's attempted cultural erasure, to archive is to bear witness. In Yosef’s animation, a short snippet posted on his Instagram, his father narrates the connection between his wife, Yosef’s mother, and his own mother. Between hanging pauses caught in nostalgia, we hear Yosef’s father tell us how his mother had surprised him. He was not married to his wife, Caroline, yet his mother says “ I am your witness, God is your witness. You are married.” He continues, “For actually an old traditional Palestinian lady to say what she said, I thought that was something really special.”

Visually narrated in graphite illustrations of geometric fauna, almost like embroidery in lace cloths draped over dinner tables, this animation truly captures a deep warmth. Illustrations wash in and out like rippled water, swishing into flower wreathes doubled as embraces and family members rendered by Yosef’s pencil. With no digital captions, Yosef chooses to subtitle the animation in pencil, extending its universe even further to bring you deeper into the story at hand. These figures are not static either, with frames layered and altered ever-so-slightly to create snapshot movements. Moments are given room to sprawl themselves out; Yosef’s father is given sacred space to be canvassed soft.

For Yosef, there’s something to say about the junction between analogue methods and temporal stretching. Illustration opens up a new avenue for ways of storytelling – “In a culture and industry that is increasing prioritisation of the quick and temporary, I think there is value in producing something that demands a pause.” The canvas acts as a vessel, a bag full of things he’s collected and memories passed down. Therefore, via illustration, the stories within Yosef’s family can unfold and be shared. Quite literally, a spotlight is drawn onto familial ties. Yosef says, “A huge goal of mine is to make work that is personal feel universal, and I think this piece speaks to that. I was waking up excited to start on it each day.”