Reportage illustration requires to you emerge in the environment that you are drawing in to be able to capture the place in its most accurate form. Drawing unlike photography takes time to create and requires a lot of observations which can make people feel too seen making them uncomfortable or sometimes feel heard allowing the illustrator to hear more stories and create illustrations based on them. However, putting yourself in a position where you don’t have direct consent from the people/conversations you choose to draw requires decision making and gives a sense of responsibility to the artist since “you’re a witness of whats happening so that gives you the responsibility to be as accurate of a witness as you can be” as Veronica Lawlor mentions in one of her interviews. Artists should naturally feel a sense of responsibility and try to be as unbiased as they can allowing them to capture the subject matter in its most authentic form.

Sources:

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). The role of ethics in reportage illustration. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/Jp7eMhvdCHw