Akin Duzakin

Akin: It all began with a discussion I had with the author of the book, Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen. We were talking about the tragic terror attacks that had taken place just a few years earlier on the island of Utøya and in Oslo city centre. This terrible incident was motivated by hate for ‘others’ – immigrants who had come to Norway over the course of the past few decades. As a country, Norway stands united, a large, strong family in which everyone condemns this evil deed in the most exemplary manner, collectively grieving our losses. In spite of this, any political debate in the wake of the tragedy was noticeably absent. This has bothered me from the very day the events took place.

I’ve always been drawn to picture books that tackle significant themes in a way that makes them accessible for young children, and naturally that often includes political themes. This was something that the author was equally interested in exploring. We talked about creating a politically-charged picture book that might investigate the idea of ‘us’ versus ‘them’, the ‘others’ in society. These ‘others’ are individuals affected by hunger, war and other natural catastrophes. They are individuals forced to flee their homes, poverty-stricken and helpless, individuals who are emigrants or who dream of a better life in which they can successfully keep themselves and their loved ones out of harm’s way.

When I was sent the first draft of the text to read, I was a little surprised by the unusual way the author had chosen to tackle this; the manuscript consisted of a list of questions rather than a traditional narrative. I quickly realised that this was a clever method for incorporating many elements of this comprehensive theme when compared with what might be possible within a traditional children’s story. I was pleased to see a philosophical text that marvelled at the world and which was so deeply connected to topical events that we, both as adults and as children, see playing out every day in the media. The questions in the text were concerned with what our lives might be like if we had been born elsewhere in the world. These were apparently simple yet simultaneously challenging questions relating to a child’s existence, and allowed the author to explore the lives of others in this turbulent day and age.

In my role as illustrator, the text proved particularly challenging. Since the book was intended to be a fictional picture book, I was keen to add a certain narrative structure that might weave together all of these questions in a way that made sense. This wasn’t only important for ensuring the book would fit within its intended genre, but also for the young people who would experience it. I felt that a sense of narrative would capture the interest of young readers and inspire greater empathy and engagement. The protagonist posing these questions should live, experience and participate in the text’s tragic events. For this reason, I decided to depict a journey in which the protagonist moves from a safe haven to various other locations in the text’s brutal world.

But this is in no way a realistic journey. Instead, this idea of movement acted as an allegory for the protagonist’s conscious voyage. Constance immediately recognised that this imagined journey created fluency between the various scenes and encouraged me to continue. After giving it some thought, I decided to employ water, an element of beauty and of mystery. Endless rivers, lakes and oceans serve to divide us just as much as they might connect us to others.

After this I drew an island as the child’s home. The water surrounding the island is reminiscent of a mythological flood. The island seems cold and the child is lonely. At this point I required one more visual element: a boat to set the tale in motion, which ought to be as practical as it would be metaphorical, and which the protagonist would require in order to escape their loneliness. This would be a small boat, in other words. I made the appearance of this boat as simple as possible, almost along the lines of an archetype. This little boat would carry her to distant lands and different people.

The water became a useful pathway of sorts, binding these various places and events. On occasions it even carried the protagonist to places where there was no water at all. In this way, each of the questions in the book formed a part of the story within the illustration that could be read both as a very concrete voyage, yet also as an entirely imaginary journey.

I spent considerable time and effort working on the protagonist’s appearance. I didn’t want to draw a child that looked typically Scandinavian, but instead wanted to create a character that would be less easy to define, both ethnically and in terms of gender. For that reason the protagonist is androgynous, with characteristics that suggest she could be from several different countries. I hope this might make it possible for children from many different places in the world to identify with the child asking the questions. Norwegian society is growing steadily more ethnically diverse. It would be madness if the protagonist designed to represent ‘us’ in the book were too easily associated with one particular group, and this would ultimately have gone against the book’s intentions.

Just to confuse the readers a little, I gave into temptation and drew an exotic animal – a lemur – that the protagonist meets during her journey. When we see that this animal is also with the child on the island, it appears that all that is depicted in the text may not be a flight of fancy after all. This little element was something that I really liked and is one that I use whenever I have the opportunity; I like the idea that something that exists within our thoughts might materialise in reality, and the way that the boundary between the real world and imagination becomes slightly obliterated. This little additional component in the story is useful in another sense: it shows us that our protagonist hasn’t simply been a passive spectator as tragic events have unfolded around her, but has stepped in and done something useful and concrete, saving lives. In other words, I wanted to show that the child was able to take responsibility and action.

It was no simple task to create particular scenes in the book, as the media conveys extremely powerful images of difficult and moving events and social conditions on an almost daily basis. It was a challenge to compete with these images in a picture book for children, and required a subtle balance, combining a convincing depiction of tragedy with an appropriate visual aesthetic. I hope that I succeeded in depicting the gravity of the situation within the book without making this either too ugly or too beautiful.

I used a mixed technique of soft pastels and coloured pencils, followed by digital touch-ups. I used soft pastels to apply the base tones to large sections of the illustrations. I roughly created shape in pastel tones and defined the areas of light. After that I used coloured pencils to add detail and to illustrate objects more precisely. I also used coloured pencils to draw different structures that define and divide the different surfaces, and eventually I added shades of colour to the entire scene or large sections of the illustration using Photoshop. Occasionally I added finishing touches to a few small details digitally before adding some additional colour.

Illustrations © Akin Duzakin. Post translation by Rosie Hedger.

Buy this picturebook

Hvorfor er jeg her? /
Why am I here?

Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen & Akin Duzakin

Magikon Forlag, Norway, 2014

---

I wonder why I’m here. Right here. Would everything be totally different if I were somewhere else? Would I then be another? One who wondered why I was there?

• English, French and Chinese editions are due to be published in 2016