I was asked to cover the Bravo trial case in Federal court in Miami, Florida, from June 27 to July 1, 2022. While I was working as a full-time artist for the New York Times in the 70’s and the San Francisco Chronicle in the 80’s. I sketched court cases, shark loan bars, morgue deceased people, felons in jail, crime victims, mafia killings, and sexual abuse cases. My pen and ink sketches were always traditional[1] and followed the style of Honoré Daumier[2]. All his court drawings and lithographs were published in Le Figaro, Paris, France.
For this trial, I handmade a Sashiko traditional Japanese stitching sketchbook, 12” x 20” to capture the large panoramic views of the courtroom. I also decided to work in pen and ink, black and white inspired by the expressive drawings of Heinrich Kley[3]. I wanted to experiment with the compositions of David Salle used in the aquatint “The Universe Mender” [4]. Salle uses superimposed, a juxtaposition of images telling their stories layered on the main character's portrait. The style I was looking for was a “Magic Realism” [5] kind of illustration. As I heard different depositions and testimonials, I visualized and drew the story as I heard it in a graphic novel style.[6] As interactive media changes in the world, I wanted to make a new innovative style for court drawings using magic realism and a new wave of data visualization.[7]
During the trial, several witnesses presented their depositions in person or with zoom pre-recorded testimonies. My drawings captured the characters, the scenes, and their stories. [8] Several international newspapers, tv covered the Trelew trial and published the drawings. Jornada, Argentina’s newspaper since 1954. https://www.diariojornada.com.ar/
CELS, (Memory, Truth, and Justice) Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, https://www.cels.org.ar/web/en/ is an Argentinian non-governmental organization based in Buenos Aires. Founded in 1979 and it promotes the defense of human rights. CJA is an international human rights organization dedicated to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses. http://www.cja.org
In 1972, while in the military rule of President Alejandro Agustín Lanusse in Argentina, 19 Argentine political prisoners were shot by their military captors. It was the Trelew Massacre of 1972. Of the four military officers alleged to have perpetrated the killing three were convicted in Argentina for life in prison. The fourth, Roberto Guillermo Bravo, fled to Miami and has not been tried for his alleged crimes. Defendant Bravo subjected prisoners to torture, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, and mock executions. Bravo and the other officers opened fire on the prisoners with machine guns and pistols in 1972.
The Federal Court jury found former Argentine naval officer Bravo liable for the extrajudicial killing, attempted extrajudicial killing, and torture of the plaintiff clients Roberto Camps, Alicia Krieger, Marcela Santucho, and their family members. The jury awarded them $24.25 million.
[1] Ives, Colta Feller. Daumier Drawings. Contributors. Margret Stuffmann. Sonnabend, Martin. Abrams, NY. 19
[3] Kley, Heinrich. The Lost Art of Heinrich Kley, Volume 1& 2. By Joseph V. Procopio (Editor), Michael Wm. Kaluta (Introduction), Alexander Kunkel (Introduction) Picture this Press. 2012
[4] Salle, David. The Universe Mender. Aquatint and etching. Parasol Press, MOMA collection. NY. 1990
[6] Samuels, Mike. Seeing with the mind's eye: The history, techniques, and uses of visualization
Random House. 1975
