The Uruguayan illustration sector

Abstract

This article addresses the impact of COVID-19 in the illustration sector in Uruguay, through the survey of available information and the conduction of in-depth interviews with artists and qualified informants. The text is structured in the following sections: background (historical antecedents of the local graphic sector), public policies and spaces of resistance (main policy instruments and social actions affecting this art), the illustration sector (main characteristics of this market), impacts and opportunities of the pandemic (observed effects and trends), and final remarks on a possible post-pandemic scenario. Its main conclusions indicate that the pandemic has forced artists to seek new subsistence opportunities, promoting a greater professionalization and creating market niches independent of the galleries and large publishing houses. It has also gathered artists around a common objective of “resistance” that strains the balance between the functional and social aspects of the discipline.

Keywords

• Uruguay
• Visual arts
• Illustration
• Graphic art
• Pandemic
• COVID-19