Collection

The hunter-gatherer: someone who survives from hunting and/or gathering edible items such as berries and animals. If we were to bend this definition, Ward might be defined as an illustrator-collector: always hungry for new images, searching impressions and objects to feed his work.

Ward found lots of books (see: Bukowski & Co) at flea markets, next to stuffed animals and household items. These sometimes feature in Ward’s stories (see: Cameo). Ward was known to all his friends as a collector—not only of objects, but also of images. In collaboration with Laura Geurten, Ward founded the collective Ulvehund, which assembled photos they had found from family albums, in a now defunct blog and in a one-off publication (28) about love and care for pets.

• (28) Ulvehund — Ward Zwart and Laura Geurten. Self-published: Antwerp, 2013, number of copies unknown, technique: offset.