A sketchy business
By Hazel Ramsay
.
This drawing, created on a brown A4 envelope with charcoal, black ballpoint pen and white pastel pencil is by court sketch artist Mike O'Donnell. It depicts the former Irish solider Lisa Smith at a court hearing in Dublin District Court on the 12th of December 2019. The court is situated in Dublin 7, amongst a hub of legal and penitentiary institutes. These include Arbour Hill and Mountjoy Prison, the Circuit Family Court, The King’s Inns, Blackhall Place and the most distinguished historical legal building of Ireland's capital, the Four Courts. These significant legal premises have expanded over the area to include such faculties as legal training institutes, several solicitors, and even pubs and restaurants with legal titles. The prominence of these properties establishes the environment of Dublin 7 as the most public and private legal district in Ireland.
O’Donnell operates as a free-lance reporter where his publication of images follows a supply and demand process in keeping with many photojournalists, although he is occasionally requested to capture specific events. O’Donnell’s work is regarded as press under the Irish Media laws and is obliged to adhere to the ethical code the Press Council of Ireland has established outlining the responsibilities of the media. (http://www.webtrade.ie, 2020)
Lisa Smith, from Dundalk County Louth, made international news after her video interview from a refugee camp in Syria where ISIS families were staying. In 2019, she was captured and detained by US forces in northern Syria. Smith was charged on 4 December 2019 with foreign terrorist offences and membership of a terrorist group under section 30 of the Offences of the State Act under the provision of the Criminal Law -Terrorist Offence Amendment Act 2015. The charge read that she was accused of being ‘a member of a terrorist group styling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also known as Dawlat al-Iraq al-Islamiyya, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Dawlat al Islamiya fi Iraq wa al Sham, otherwise known as 'Da'esh' and the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham.’ This led to a very public debate about her Irish citizenship, a discussion preceded in Britain about Shamina Begum, a former ISIS member whose British citizenship was revoked in 2019. Currently, Smith’s trial has been adjourned until a later date.
The degree of accessibly of a court artist varies considerably, depending on the artist's location. Irish court artists have permission to create visual reports of the accused in the presence of the courtroom. They often work discreetly to illustrate the subject as candidly as possible. This facility to undertake direct reporting is dissimilar to the neighbouring country of Britain, where since 1925, any form of image-making in court is forbidden under section 41 in the Criminal Justice Act. makes it an offence ‘to take any photograph, make or attempt to make any portrait or sketch of a justice or a witness in, or a party to, any proceedings before the court, either in the courtroom or its precincts.’ In order to depict an image, the courtroom artists must rely on good visual memory by taking notes of everything they observe from posture, clothing details and facial expression. However, British court artists are permitted to attend hearings and take descriptive notes on their subjects.
The importance of court sketches like this is that they give spectators a rare insight into the direct action of a courtroom. The artist can capture the atmosphere around the accused and the court proceedings in real-time through the representative drawings. Most other images of the accused published in media outlets are either an accumulation from social media or of photographs of the pre or post court trial. Along with an image that resembles the physicality of Smiths' presence, O'Donnell's deliberate expressive gestures stimulate more in-depth insight to the depiction. He uses the charcoal in an upward sweeping motion on the folds of her black hijab, then with black ink emphasizes the rigidity of an anxious back or the fine detail of a furrowed brow. O'Donnell conveys to get the overall disposition of Smith's presence in response to the hearing.
In an interview with me, Mike O’Donnell said he first started his sketches when he was a teenager and found it difficult to get subjects to sit for long enough for him to draw them. He says that ‘my brothers, would not give me two minutes’ so ‘I thought about going to courthouse in Tralee. I went in and found people that would just sit there. I did not know what was going on. I started drawing them when I was about 13/14 just because they sat still.’ He later became a teacher, and relied on his artistic skills to communicate with pupils: ‘I found when I was teaching the only way, I could ever explain things to the children were through drawing. That went on for years and years and years.’
Sketch artists like O'Donnell invite the public into the private realm of the courtroom action, and their work communicate and explain the procedures. The significance in this Lisa Smith sketch then is that it conveys a moment in history, marking Ireland’s affiliations with other nations that confront issues regarding associations with extremist groups.
Image Credits
All images courtesy of Mike O'Donnell