720 WEEK 3: RESEARCH TASK

Mona Chalabi, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary, is a data journalist and illustrator whose work has been featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker and the Guardian. Chalabi creates powerful data visualizations, using simple playful illustrations, human-like characters and often humour to present data and facts in a which draws people’s attention to important issues. Talking to Candy Lang in Time Magazine (2023), Chalabi describes her work as “rehumanizing” data, using the platform she has developed to influence change. She acknowledges (Cenicola, 2023) that initially her designs were not taken as seriously as the presented in graphs and charts, however she explains that the lack of precision in her illustrations are part of the story that she is trying to tell because it conveys the boundaries of knowledge.

For me, her illustrations are simple, clear and hard-hitting. Her alternative way of presenting data attracts more attention. It drives the message home and makes its viewers pay attention. She presents data in a way that makes it real; in a way which we can all relate to. That is often what makes the significance of the data she is presenting all the more concerning. I find it a really effective way to convey information we might otherwise ignore. The illustrations often need no explanation, their simplicity and clarity allow the illustration to speak for itself.

Endangered Species on a Train