The kid who never stopped drawing

RONNIE SHORT

Charismatic caricaturist, Alistair Hughes, spoke to a captivated congregation at Tākaka library last Friday as part of WordFest. This time the subject was “Picturing the News”, his work as a visual journalist.

“It’s not really so much about me,” he began. “It’s about what has happened in New Zealand and globally over the last two decades. I’ve been able to view it from a pretty unique standpoint… I’m going to talk about my two decades as a media artist, designer, and writer.”

Describing himself as the kid who never stopped drawing since he first picked up a crayon, Alistair’s passion made clear what his future career would entail. Upon leaving school he chose graphic design school.

He worked in the printing, film, and even children’s clothing industries in New Zealand and overseas, before moving into magazine publication, then news media.

In 2000, Alistair began working for Wellington newspapers that later merged to become Stuff. He produced 50 per cent of the advertising content.

When the Twin Towers fell in 2001, Alistair experienced the news from the inside, “…watching so many people compartmentalise this horrific loss of life and the international trauma, in order to do their jobs and to try and keep our readership accurately informed”.

But it was a Dominion Post front page image depicting the bases of the Twin Towers superimposed on the Wellington skyline that really impacted Alistair.

“It was my first real insight into the power of imagery in the news media.”

Eventually he joined the editorial team as a visual journalist. When the Christchurch earthquake hit on Tuesday 22 February 2011, Alistair experienced what it was like to be “right in the thick of reporting a catastrophic event”.

“The Christchurch Press buildings and staff were struck just as hard as anyone else. So, the decision was made that Wellington’s Dominion Post would also produce the Christchurch Press and send it down south. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the level of activity and energy filling that newsroom for the next week. We had people working a 24-hour news cycle…they were running on coffee and adrenalin. My team were responsible for creating vital information visually. We created myriads of maps, diagrams, captions…known as information graphics or infographics, and it’s a powerful tool in news and education.”

Becoming hooked on infographics, Alistair eagerly volunteered extra hours for projects as they arose.

Hard copies of the full-page infographic spreads were passed around the audience. Examples included: Superman turning 75; the 60th anniversary of Hillary’s summit of Mt Everest; the transit of Venus in 2012; the Rena oil spill; and visual summaries of the news year.

Alistair wrote his first piece “about the dangers of sun worshipping” during the newspaper’s quieter summer period. Then he was asked by a journalist friend to interview a British actor over the phone.

That began an aspect of Alistair’s career he still enjoys. He has interviewed actor Bill Nighy, Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, four Doctor Whos, Graham Norton, and Michael Palin, to name a few.

A caricature of Palin became the main feature of the weekend magazine, for which Alistair gained an award nomination. It is a rare occurrence that one person fills all the roles of interviewer, writer, illustrator, and designer of the cover.

Depicting clever caricatures of politicians provided fun.

“This is a very old tradition going back centuries –lampooning our leaders so they’re quickly recognised in an amusing form, which also manages to inform and comment on current affairs.”

Weekly cartoons became AIistair’s responsibility, which he would leave right up until deadline to stay current.

With Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Alistair was tasked with collating a commemorative pullout, “which took months to research, as pages were added every time I submitted”.

Expressing gratitude and appreciation to those in attendance, Alistair concluded with, “The boy who liked to draw pictures is still drawing – and writing. But for national and sometimes international publications”.

• It’s been a week of reuniting people with their lost items which is one of the more positive things we get to do in the Police – that and search and rescue, people are generally really pleased to see you! We still have a few items that need to get home. A small full-suspension mountain bike with a distinctive drink-bottle holder was handed in this week and we still have the heart-shaped pendant found in the Village Theatre when Shackleton was screening a month or so ago. Also a kid's scooter. Be extra careful on the icy roads please. We have already attended a couple of crashes, one serious one where a Motueka man skidded off the side of the Tākaka Hill after crashing into the “smurfs and birds are/aren’t real” concrete abutment. Poor guy was slightly injured as well and was only a metre away from going much further down the hill. There will need to be a lane closure for a short period of time when the crane picks up his truck.

• Disappointing to have rubbish strewn through the main street of Tākaka overnight 5 August. A manhole cover was stolen from Junction Street (just really dumb) and the memorial garden toilets also damaged (dumber). Some drunkard making extra work for the Nelmac team who are up at the crack of dawn ensuring that our town is presentable and the public areas are clean. They are our quiet heroes. Thank you.

• A 50-year-old local male was issued a formal warning for possession of a meth pipe following a search warrant being executed at his home address. Have a great weekend, stay safe. Tākaka Police.