In 2006, an article entitled
‘Inside a Rape Trial’, written by Barbara Toner, appeared in The Guardian. This
article was accompanied by an illustration produced by Laura Carlin, and would
go on to win a V&A ‘Illustration of the Year’ award.
The article and illustration deal with
the isolation of rape victims during trial by the courts of law, with a focus
on one particular case of domestic rape. The article references how the jury at
this case were warned that they could not accuse unless they were positive the
accused was guilty; with the absence of concrete evidence, the case was
acquitted. Toner followed the case, and later wrote the article, in response to
a set of figures that were published in 2005, figures that revealed that, at
the time, just one in twenty reported rapes ended in conviction.
Within her illustration, Carlin uses
several subtle but effective visual cues that allude to the isolation of rape
victims by the British justice system. A large, almost entirely blank space surrounds
the lone figure of a woman walking away from the Crown Court; her stance is
dejected, she looks downward, and trails her handbag behind her. The character
appears to go unnoticed by a mass of figures, shown in the foreground of the
image as going about the errands of everyday life, all coloured in the same
light washes of grey, barely distinguishable from one another. They represent
the sense of a mass, of continuation, and, perhaps, of the unchanging nature of
a broken system. The central character, however, is coloured with far darker,
stronger ink lines, juxtaposing the empty space around her, and further
perpetuating a sense of isolation.
Carlin’s use of a cool and almost
entirely monochromatic palette is another way in which she allows sentiments of
bleakness and aloneness to resonate through her illustration, as is her use
perspective and proportion. By carefully positioning other, tiny characters at
the top of the stairway, Carlin is able to display the central character as
dwarfed by the Crown Court, with its sprawling front steps, tall marble
pillars, and high walls. In amongst all that, she is tiny, and it is this sense
of defeat that makes this image such a powerful one. The line work Carlin
employs within the illustration is delicate and fragile, featuring very few
solid, definite lines and forms. The most solid shapes and heavy colour washes
within the image are used near the top of frame, to depict the entrance, walls
and columns of Crown Court, with the image gradually ‘de-solidifying’, the
closer the eye wanders to the foreground, a powerful and poignant reminder of
the rigidity of the justice system, a system which, even with figures relating
to abhorrent sexual violations spiralling beyond control, is perhaps failing to
protect those most vulnerable.
Carlin’s ‘Inside a Rape Trial’
editorial illustration is successful on many levels, as it resonates with a
sense of bleakness and fragility. Using a variety of techniques, the artist has
produced an implicit, yet through-provoking work of illustrative
socio-political commentary.
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| Inside a Rape Trial by Laura Carlin (2006) |
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