RONALD SEARLE: SHOULD ILLUSTRATORS HAVE BOUNDARIES?

After being rushed to the frontline in Singapore in 1941, Ronald Searle became a prisoner of war after just a month. He was sent to the Changi Prison Camp and the notorious Siam-Burma Death Railway. During his time there, he saw unimaginable things – men sick with tropical ulcers and fevers, people thin and starving and the repeated deaths of those around him. Yet, he kept drawing. Searle illustrated his experience, and depicted the savagery and cruelty of war in hopes people could understand what they were going through. After seven months, Searle was transported back to Changi where he used papers, charcoal and pencil to create more than 300 drawings throughout his time as a POW.

Searle’s story is one of hope, bravery and resilience. It’s an amazing example of the simplicity of drawing with just pencil and paper. Searle’s technical skills beautifully depict the scenes in a way that feels authentic and like you’re there. The emotion and movement of these images go beyond the literality of a photograph in a way that feels more personal. Yet the illustrations still capture the information a photograph would, which begs the question – why is it ok to draw these horrific scenes, yet it’s morally and ethically wrong to photograph a dying or dead person?

An ethical issue is ‘a situation where a moral conflict arises and must be addressed. In other words, it is an occasion where a moral standard is questioned.’(5). We, as humans, have an idea of what’s good and bad – and ethical issues arise when these ideas are questioned. Illustrators must consider these ethics when creating art in the same way a photographer might, yet essentially have more freedom. When asked to illustrate a sensitive topic or story, its essential for illustrators to do this in a respectful and accurate way.

Charlotte Ager, a freelance illustrator based in London, was commissioned by ProPublica to create ‘Birth Rights’, a series of illustrations highlighting the failure of Florida’s Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association. The articles included how ‘The NICA, settled a three-year-old whistle-blower complaint that alleged the program grew assets of nearly $1.7 billion partly by dumping health care and caregiving costs onto Medicaid, the state-federal insurer for poverty-stricken and disabled Floridians’(6). For many Floridians effected, it would have been an emotional and sensitive topic – one which may have caused distress or even anger if illustrated in a manner which came across as rude or out of touch. Therefore, Ager would have had to consider this ethical implication when creating this series of images.