Until we are all free is a visual representation of the WhatsApp conversation between Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish journalist who has been detained on Manus Island for the past 5 years, and a PositiveNegatives’ researcher.
The initial direction of the project was to give a new perspective on Behrouz’s well-known story, but issues started presenting themselves on the island with guards no longer performing their duties, water and electricity being cut and Behrouz being arrested for a short period of time. From these issues, the idea came to represent his story within the context of ongoing events with the real-time elements of the WhatsApp conversation.
Until we are all free was co-produced by Behrouz himself, alongside artist Alex Mankiewicz and PositiveNegatives’ researcher Poppy Ogier.
Here is a link to the animation referenced in the comic, Nowhere Line: Voices from Manus Island by Lukas Schrank.
Until We Are All Free received a Highly Commended nod (Book Series) from the Australian/New Zealand Illustration Awards in October 2018 and is currently short-listed for a The 2019 Ledger Awards, which acknowledges excellence in Australian comics and graphic novels.
‘Until We Are All Free’ is published under a Creative Commons license. This means it can be freely downloaded, printed and used for any not-for-profit purpose as long as PositiveNegatives and the artist are attributed, and the artwork is not edited.