Mayday

I worked on a quick piece for The Intercept recently, that's up now.  From the trove of documents provided by Edward Snowden is a report detailing the classified info that may have been obtained by China, after a collision between a Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet in 2001.

The Navy's EP-3E plane was badly damaged and needed to make an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island. Although the crew was blamed by many for allowing secrets to fall into the hands of the Chinese government, the report makes clear that higher-ups did not provide the crew with the training or equipment needed to destroy all sensitive material on board. A very interesting read, check it out here. I was very excited to hear from The Intercept, I've been a big fan since its inception. Thank you to Philipp, my AD for this.

Spread 'em!

I finished this multi-page project for USC Dornsife Magazine a few weeks back, for a story on Hollywood breaking into the Chinese movie market:

The image above was the opening spread for the article. In case you can't quite make out the copy, the deck reads:
As domestic box office returns plateau, Hollywood is setting its sights on China- the second largest film market in the world. USC Dornsife professors Stanley Rosen and Brian Bernards explain what it will take for the U.S. film industry to break into China's notoriously complicated movie market.

The assignment also called for a second, full-page illustration for the following spread:

Although there were only two illustrations needed, another one of my sketches was so well received, they decided to feature it as well. Ultimately there wasn't enough room to include the third image in the magazine, however, it is featured on the website. Here's that illustration:

One of the stipulations the Chinese government requires for importing American movies, is that a certain percentage have to be 3D movies. It's one of the reasons the 3D glasses worked so well in the illustrations. Check out the article, it's very interesting. You can download and read a PDF of the whole magazine on the website here. Thank you so much to Dan Knapp, art director on this one!

(Censored) up beyond all recognition

This illustration for The Chronicle of Higher Education is running in the current issue. It accompanies an essay by an associate professor from Virginia Commonwealth University relaying his experience attempting to teach some journalism classes at Northeast Normal University in China. As the professor soon came to realize, it's fairly difficult to teach about press freedom in a country that doesn't have much. Along with the concept of "press freedom," there were several other taboo subjects that he was warned to shy away from: one of them being the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Many of his students were unaware of the demonstration/massacre, even as they were approaching its 25th anniversary, due to the fact that the Chinese government has made sure to stifle public discussion of the event. I decided to use a heavily redacted text in the shape of a tank, along with an image of the famous "Tank Man" in front of it. It also helped to signify the fact that the professor was standing up to government censorship. He was able to use leaked diplomatic cables made public by Chelsea Manning and Wikileaks to have his students learn about Tiananmen, from U.S. State Dept cables that discuss the issue (apparently using a source that the U.S. government opposes, made it tolerable to Chinese authorities?). I was struck by the irony of a story criticizing China for quashing press freedom, discussing the use of leaked cables provided by Manning, who is now in prison in the U.S. for something that the press in this country has benefited so much from.
Thank you to Janeen, my AD on this one!

Oh the thinks you can't think

This piece for the current edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education illustrates the paradox of teaching critical thinking in a tightly controlled society, like China:

 The story explains the difficulty China is meeting with when venturing to teach people to think creatively and outside of the box, while at the same time limiting just how much they can question. As the article recalls, a recent Time story asked: China makes everything. Why can't it create anything? The government has since begun attempts to rectify the problem, by teaching students to think critically- just not about the Chinese government. You can read it here, with a subscription. Thank you, Ellen!