The Malaysian Insider: Search for MH370

Looking at this article from The Malaysian Insider online, I have illustrated some of the photographs portraying the heartache of the relatives of the missing plane, MH370.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/gallery/view/search-for-mh370

'A woman praying for passengers of the missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 at a prayer session organised by the Mahindrama Buddhist temple in George Town for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passengers on March 11, 2014. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Hansnoor Hussain, April 8, 2014.'

I chose to illustrate this particular photograph as I felt the close up composition was heart-felt and touching, reminding the viewer that it is not just the passengers on board flight MH370 who have suffered. The watercolour I have used is more subtle and less intrusive than the original photograph with lighter more friendly tones.

This illustration is very effective as it holds so much emotion but in a sensitve way. The image conveys hope, loss, prayer and anguish, feelings left over by the unknown whereabouts of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. This is what is important at this time and should not be ignored.

'A Malaysian Muslim woman wiping her tears during a special prayer for the passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang on March 13, 2014. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, April 8, 2014.'

A slightly different approach to this illustration, using mainly line to portray the saddened woman. The space around the woman gives the impression that there is a loss which has caused her saddness. Selective tone emphasises certain aspects of detail with this particular style. It also reflects how Kugler and Butler illustrate their imagery, leaving out unnecessary aspects of the image and focusing on what matters.

'People holding up balloons carrying messages during a vigil for the passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur on March 18, 2014. The search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has now been expanded to a massive 2.24 million square nautical miles, says acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, April 8, 2014.'

This image intrigued me a lot in relation to the relatives heartache over the missing passengers of flight MH370. No faces are seen and the messages could not be read, though there is still a sense of pain and loss. The tones I have used to illustrate the original photograph are bold but not over-powering. My illustrate is more abstract allowing the viewer to interpret what they can see. With the caption from the original article which described the scene, the image suddenly gains a background. Without it, there is mystery and interpretation- just like the entire ordeal over the missing flight MH370.

Overall, I believe these illustrations have been a success. I have learned which images to portray in my reportage illustration to help gain a better insight into the emotions of the relatives and friends of the 239 missing passengers. It is important to know which parts to illustrate and I think I have achieved this well here. Watercolour immediately creates a sense of subtly and sensitivity which some photographs and hard facts cannot achieve. My illustrations give the viewer a chance to approach the subject on an emotional level even without the text involved and without knowing the full story. After all, the full story is not yet known and may not be for a long time, so it is absolutely essential to focus on the people who are suffering in the present and the losses they have had to face.

Reportage Illustration: Relatives of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Using a selection of watercolour illustrations portraying the relatives of the missing passengers of flight MH370, I decided to put them into a more professional context in the style of Kugler's reportage illustration where he uses text alongside the imagery.

To begin with, I made grid lines to divide the page into two sections to form a book/ newspaper double page spread layout. 

The next stage was to add a collage of reportage illustrations which I had previously formed. I flipped the image horizontally so that the heading could be situated in the top left hand corner so it would read chronologically.

I added text into spaces incorporating it within the imagery. The text relates to articles about the relatives of the missing passengers of flight MH370. In particular, this text (below) was quoted from the article which I had illustrated the image from, relating to Chinese protests about the missing flight.The text (far below) relates to the missing passenger, Paul Weeks, and his family, using a quote from his wife to portray the heart-ache of the ordeal.

Adding the heading to the image put it into context as a news story similar to the way George Butler puts his reportage work into commercial contexts. I didn't want to use a conventional font, so searched for one online, leading me to 'headliner no.45'. This font is bold but still a little rough around the edges, fitting in with the news story.

Text used for heading

Final Design

Above, this is the final design. The text compliments the imagery effectively without making the whole image seem too busy. I could definitely see this in a newspaper as a double page spread. The subtly of the watercolour takes on a sensitive approach to such a controversial topic, allowing the reader to understand the necessary information about the thoughts of the relatives of the missing passengers. Overall, I think the image and composition relates well to a professional news story context.

Ny Daily News: Relatives Have Hope

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/relatives-missing-malaysia-airlines-passengers-hopeful-article-1.1723195

Looking at several articles online has given me an insight into the anguish the relatives of the missing passengers of Malaysia Airline flight Mh370 have had to face.

I have illustrated one of the photographs from this article:

'A man cries at a prayer ceremony for passengers’ family members Saturday in Subang Jaya, Malaysia.'

The deep tones I have used bring out the detail and emotions of the relative. He is situated within a large white space signifying the loss he has suffered. However, the watercolour is quite dark portraying the image as quite harsh in comparison to others. Even so, the composition is effective to demonstrate his emotions and significant loss, once again touching upon the idea of a 'void' felt by the relatives.

Keeping the illustrations quite simple is effective for focusing on specific aspects of the news coverage of the missing flight MH370. As there are so many variations and elements to the story as a whole, along with past, present and ongoing articles, I have picked out specific articles relating to the emotions of the relatives which they have to endure without finding answers to their questions and any knowledge about what really happened to the flight.

Future illustrations will be more subtle, although this image could be de-saturated in Photoshop to make the tones less harsh.

Olivier Kugler

Olivier Kugler is a reportage artist who has done many illustrations based on real life events for newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian and the Reader's Digest.

His work can be viewed on his website: http://www.olivierkugler.com/overview.html

Tahrir Square, Cairo,2012 for The Guardian

Kugler's unique style captures all aspects of any event he is reporting. He creates a fluid collage intertwined with text, line and image with block colours. I love how the text is hand-written as it gives a sense of authenticity and that it has been written in the moment, noting down quotes, fact and opinions to create this impressive reportage illustration.

A Healing Fire, The Reader's Digest, Asia

Here, the artist has used his unique style to highlight the most important parts of his illustration. The main characters are in block colour, whilst the line is used for less important aspects of the illustration such as the background. This draws the reader's eye to the characters, emphasising their importance. Again, hand-written text is used, complimenting the sketchy and loose style of the illustration.

Overall, I love Kugler's work and how he has captured the attention of the viewer's through selecting which parts of his illustrations are most important and relate to the reportage of events. His style is quite cartoon-like which I think softens the harshness of many of his topics and makes for more friendly viewing. It is the text and the facts which Kugler includes alongside his drawings that complete the reportage of events.



How could this influence my own work?

From viewing Kugler's reportage illustration, it has made me realise that strong imagery along side hard facts can be enough to trigger emotions in the public reader. As I am dealing with a sensitive topic, the missing Malaysian Airline MH370, it is important that I can communicate a strong message to the reader in an understanding yet sensitive way. As Kugler uses quotes in his work, I could use quotes from various articles to structure my reportage illustration and make it clear for the reader. My main focus is on the relatives of the missing passengers so I could use personal quotes alongside my illustrations. Also, I would like to use the technique of highlighting the most important imagery within my reportage illustration though perhaps in a more subtle way than Kugler. I feel the black lines in the artists work are too strong for the way I would like to portray the imagery relating to the relatives of the missing plane.

Reportage Illustration: George Butler and Evan Turk

As a direction for my latest University project based on the missing Malaysian flight MH370, I have decided to look at several illustrators who use a method of reportage through art to depict certain events and locations of places around the world. My aim for my personal project is to portray the main events which have occurred since the flight went missing on the 8th March 2014.

For inspiration, I looked at some illustrators who practice the art of reportage themselves:



George Butler is a reportage illustrator specialising in travel and current affairs. His main choice of media include pen, ink, and watrcolour, a similar medium which I love to work in. He has published works in several newspapers such as the Times, the Guardian and the Evening Standard. Butler offers a unique style which captures the emotions of each place he visits. Sitting amongst the landscapes, he draws from life which give a sense of authenticity in his work.

'Goats' - Ismail, Syria

Here are some examples of his work:

'Battle Scene' - illustration of remains of war in Kilis, Turkey

And here is an interview with the artist himself giving a true insight into his work:

Evan Turk

Evan Turk is a New York based artists who uses his blog to document his reportage illustrations and animations from all over the world.

Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem 

Morocco: The Tanneries

Turk's illustrations are loose and sketchy, though provide detail and information about the scenes he has encountered. 

More of his work can be found on his blog: 

http://evanturk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/morocco-tanneries.html

Self-Initiated Project Brief: Missing Malaysian Flight MH370

Brief:

For my self initiated project, I will focus on looking into the current news event of the missing Malaysian flight MH370. Keeping up to date with several articles, I intend on recording past, current, and on going stories about the missing flight. This will be recorded through illustration to depict the most important aspects of the news story. My main focuses will be on the missing passengers and their relatives, perhaps using photography from news articles to depict the events.

Summary of Missing Flight MH370 so far...

The Malaysian Flight MH370 went missing on the 8th March 2014 along with 239 victims on board, including passengers with various nationalities. As expected, there was much anguish and frustration felt by the relatives on board the plane. Helicopters and Navy vessels have gone to a calculated search zone in the Indian Ocean. Debris has been found but so far none of it has been identified as part of Flight MH370.

Initial Ideas

Initially, I have began looking into current and past news articles about the Malaysian Flight. This has led me to look at online UK based news sites such as Sky News and BBC News to give me a better insight into the story so far. However, I felt that when I looked at several articles I was very unsure what was a portrayal of truth or speculation. This has made it difficult though I can use this as part of the reportage of events I will illustrate. 

One article I came  across of Sky News showed the faces of some of the missing passengers on the flight, including reports on some of the backgrounds of certain passengers. I feel this connected the audience with the story on a deeper level rather than using only statistics to describe the traumatic event. 

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.sky.com/story/1227545/missing-plane-mystery-faces-of-flight-mh370

As soon as I read the article I was touched at a deeper level by the story. From this, I realised that I wanted to portray this same deep level of meaning in my own illustrations which would create a reportage of events relating the missing flight through various articles I find. 

Source: The Guardian newspaper online

Here are a couple of illustrations I created on post-it notes to focus the attention on the missing passengers and the anguish faced by their relatives. The post-it notes reflect on how many of the relatives and others have written notes of prayers and wishes for the missing people on Flight MH370. By illustrating the faces of the passengers, it draws attention to the real crisis of the event; the unknown whereabouts of the plane leading to speculations about whether the passengers survived. This conveys the idea of hope which many of the relatives hold on to.

Missing passenger: Ju Kun

Missing passenger: Paul Weeks

I have also illustrated the 'void' in which the relatives may feel due to the traumatic event: 

Missing passengers: Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai

Here I have illustrated the silhouette of two missing passengers to reflect on the unknown whereabouts of the missing flight. They are not portrayed as deceased nor alive, it is just a mystery. The blue tones are symbolic of the speculative search areas in the Indian Ocean.