Screen shot from newyorker.com
If you haven’t read about it or seen it yet (mine has yet to arrive in the mail), the Nov. 28 issue of The New Yorker features cartoon Mayflower pilgrims running the border gauntlet in the desert, one of them crawling through a hole in the fence. It’s not the first time that images of pilgrims and illegal immigration intersect, of course, but it’s getting a fair bit of attention.
On the magazine’s website, German-born artist Christoph Niemann explains the rationale behind his “Promised Land” cartoon:
“Too often in politics, very complex subjects are being turned into sound bites, so it’s easy to take them apart…I draw a parallel between current immigrants and early settlers—the hope is that it will provide context, to help keep things in perspective. Cartoonists, not politicians, should be the ones who condense political discussions into simple images.”
The New Yorker’s Culture Desk blog features a slide show of Neimann’s cover art for the magazine, which often incorporates iconic American images.
