Modelling the creative and professional self: The magazine profile as narrative of transition and transformation

Abstract

The profile, a magazine feature article with a biographical dimension, serves not only to entertain but also to articulate the values and aspirations of communities formed around magazines. This is seen in special-interest magazines aimed at a readership united by an interest in a specific form of creative practice. To illustrate, this paper provides an overview of profiles from three Australian magazines for quilt-makers: 'Down under quilts', 'Australian patchwork & quilting' and 'Australian quilters companion'. The paper draws on issues from 2010 to 2013 to identify recurring narrative features of the profile, which for readers shapes "the quilter" archetypically and presents her many variations. The paper relates its findings to rhetorical theory on narrative, and comments on the significance of its findings in the context of the creative industries.