The question of "Where are the Women in the Peace Process?" now catches all eyes
Date:
Author: Carla Silbert
Artist: Chan Wai Loh
A graphic illustrator may seem like an unusual participant to attend an Expert Group Meeting on Women, Peace and Security in Bangkok, but at a recent event organised by UN Women Asia and the Pacific, colourful cartoon graphics were the centre of attention.
Graphic recording allows the thoughts and ideas sparked during a meeting or event to be transformed into striking visuals, all hand-drawn live while the conversation is flowing. For the Expert Group Meeting this meant that a complex discussion of issues such as women’s participation in peace processes was recorded as a vibrant, visual map of the ideas that had been raised.
Capturing the discussions as they unfolded, the graphic artist quietly scribbled away with a rainbow of coloured markers as participants debated how to strengthen women’s role in peace and security in Asia-Pacific. In one corner of the page, the drawing of a table and chairs reminds us of the need to include women in peace negotiations. In another illustration, we see a hand-drawn character asking “where are the women?”, posing the question that a presenter at the meeting stressed must be asked during all stages of a peace process. As participants looked at the finished product, they found that the visual map was more than just a pretty picture. The vital themes of the day’s discussions were made clear with key words from the conversation popping out from the page in bold colours, and statistics presented during the meeting catching the eye of the viewer, drawing attention to the crucial issues discussed and reinforcing where future work needs to be focused.