Death penalty explored in joint show by cartoonists, condemned inmates

At its most socially relevant, comic art doesn't flinch from tough topics. Cartoonists regularly reckon with social ills or matters of war and peace.

An exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on the Ohio State University campus demonstrates that the art form also has the capacity to tackle capital punishment.

“Windows on Death Row” presents pieces in two categories: panels by political cartoonists; and artwork, in multiple mediums and styles, by inmates convicted of crimes that carried a sentence of death.

The exhibit, which made its debut in Los Angeles in 2015, was organized by documentarian Anne-Frederique Widmann and New York Times International Edition cartoonist Patrick Chappatte, whose own work has dealt with the death penalty.

The exhibit is both insightful and troubling — especially the section made up of creations by death-row inmates.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Such pieces raise many questions: Is it ethical to look for artistic worth in the work of those whose sentences result from heinous crimes? Is the work of those who assert innocence (as a number of the inmates have) more valid than those who acknowledge guilt?

To its credit, the exhibit provides context to invite such philosophical pondering. Affixed to a column in the exhibit space is a chart titled “Inmate Information,” in which brief details concerning each inmate — and the crimes of which they were convicted — are given. (This information can also be found at www.windowsondeathrow.com.)

Viewers might find it instructive to read the chart first, then proceed to view the artwork on its own terms.

“Untitled (Blue Cell),” by San Quentin State Prison inmate Armando Macias, presents a ghostly cell adorned with a desktop computer and a commode. Seemingly inspired by “The Blue Room” by Pablo Picasso, the scene is bathed in blue and evokes the cold loneliness of prison.

Expressing similar sentiments is “Self Portrait” by Arnold Prieto, who was executed in 2015 after serving time at the penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. The surreal piece, meant to capture solitary confinement, shows a figure sitting in a pool of liquid as a clock melts in the upper-right-hand corner — a reference to “The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali.

Prieto's “Any Questions?!!” is among the exhibit's most rage-filled works. The empty eye sockets of a skeleton stare at the viewer; to the left is a card announcing the 516th execution to take place in Texas since the re-emergence of the death penalty in 1976.

As thought-provoking as the artwork is, it can be wearying in its unrelenting focus on human despair.

The political cartoons on view are repetitive in a different way.

Many relay potent and sensible perspectives, including a 2015 panel by Los Angeles Times cartoonist David Horsey in which a prison official and a physician hover over a man who has been administered a lethal injection. The official expresses surprise over the length of the execution, to which the physician replies: “Any longer and I could do a DNA test to see if he's innocent.”

Powerful, too, is Houston Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson's panel, from 2011, depicting an African-American inmate strapped to a gurney as a figure bearing the label “Texas Justice System” asks: “Raise your hand if you think race played a part in your death sentence.” (The inmate cannot move.)

Yet the political cartoons come down almost entirely against the death penalty. In a welcome acknowledgment of such uniform thinking, the exhibit — in its incarnation at Billy Ireland — includes a pair of panels with different viewpoints. (According to a card, the panels are the only ones in the library collection that could be characterized as pro-death penalty.)

The most effective — a 1972 panel by Hearst newspapers cartoonist Karl Hubenthal — presents the ghost of a victim of violent crime raising from his grave; in his hand is the announcement of a Supreme Court ruling in which death-row inmates' lives were spared. The caption: “Nobody gave me any second chance.”

The eloquent cartoon serves as a reminder that behind each piece in the exhibit are stories of pain and anguish — those involving the prisoner and those involving the victim.

tonguetteauthor2@aol.com

The free exhibit "Windows on Death Row" continues through March 12 at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in Sullivant Hall, 1813 N. High St., at Ohio State University.

Hours: 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Call 614-292-0538, or visit cartoons.osu.edu