The Sunflower

Marilena Nardi, In Solidarity With The Ukrainian People, February 27, 2022.

 

"Put sunflower seeds in your pocket so they grow when you die".

The words spoken by an elderly woman to a Russian soldier on the first day of the Russian war on Ukraine went viral on the spot.  

I have been very keen to see how it would be interpreted in cartoons. It is not a sentence, which should be drawn in any literal way. It is the right of the dead of war to be respected, whether they were the enemy or not when they were alive. This is the Geneva Conventions, which applies to cartooning as well.

Marilena Nardi has made a compelling cartoon on the power of life. The basic composition is still that of the one part growing from the demise of the other, but Marilena creates focus on the dynamic movement in the magic of the one against which even the Grim Reaper has no power. The latter is dressed in elements of a uniform, a boot and a bloodied trouser leg, but we are beyond any actual field of the fallen. 

Of cartoons to come on the subject this will remain one of the most forceful.

The cartoon shown courtesy of Marilena Nardi and must not be reproduced without acknowledging her name.