Illustrations for The Wayfarer by Patrick Pearse
The Wayfarer (1916) is one of the last poems written by Patrick Pearse, an Irish poet & political activist. Pearse was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a leader in Easter Rising, becoming a key voice of the Irish Rebellion. I discovered The Wayfarer in 2015 for an assignment in my class, Literary History of Dublin. It stuck with me ever since then. In 2020, I decided to illustrate the poem into book form for my senior thesis assignment.
Taking this project on my senior year of college seemed a bit challenging at the beginning since I had some difficulties with a previous class on illustrating a children’s book, but I was determined to redeem myself and both illustrate & design this book by graduation. Even with unforeseen circumstances and lockdown in full swing, I was able to push through the project & make something so comforting in a rough period. Within 4 months, The Wayfarer had become a 46 page book & now has physicality in a hardcover book with a dust jacket.
