The evening was full of poetry and hope. Like Hippolyte’s comic strip report, The Whisper of the Sea, recently published by Les Arènes. Having lived in Reunion Island for twenty years, the designer traveled to Marseille for this drawn musical reading, scheduled for Thursday as part of the literary festival. Oh good days ! It is from here, too, that he boarded the “Ocean Viking”, the SOS Méditerranée rescue ship, in 2021. With notebooks, pencils and a big dose of emotion, as he tells 20 minutes.
What did you want to tell that’s different about SOS Méditerranée’s missions?
The idea was to do old-fashioned reporting, to take the time for things to happen, to understand, to really focus on the human being, on the little story, on what motivates the rescuers to to save, the survivors from their homes, me to report, the States to block, I find it difficult to understand. In short, to move away from facts and figures, even if they are necessary. I spent two months aboard the Ocean Viking, two months also in Marseille when the ship was stuck because it had saved too many people, it’s absolute cynicism. In comics, I put myself on stage, people follow me, they follow in my footsteps. I ask questions, the SOS people answer me. I tell what the rescuers experience, beyond the superhero image.
You do not hide your tears in the face of the distress of the survivors, and at the same time you show that there is beauty too…
The Ocean Viking is an island of humanity in the sea. There is distress, dramatic stories, but also beauty, hope. It’s important to also have this story. My first rescue was very memorable. The role of the reporter, on a boat, is generally to be a ghost, not to hinder operations, unless there are babies, then if we want we can help. That day, we arrive at sunrise, and we see a baby held by two arms. There are also 20 young children in the boat, who must be taken care of and put on life jackets. I find myself with a two month old baby in my arms. This baby is the first contact I have with a survivor. When he starts to cry, I have this daddy reflex of offering him my finger to suck on. This link is nothing, and at the same time everything. Saving this saves us, it’s pure beauty. I’m drawing this evening where the boat saved 440 people. The team leader lights the sea and there, in the light beam, there are more than 400 seagulls flying, like a symbol of freedom. These are images that speak.
Like the red lights of oil platforms in the night…
The smugglers, when they send the boats, tell them to follow these lights, that Lampedusa is behind them. The people, their hope is the Libyan oil platforms. You can’t have these images before you go there. Afterwards, during the day, you see that at the bottom of each oil platform, there is a red and white rescue boat. The exact replica of the Viking Ocean. In fact, there are plenty of them in the Mediterranean. While the SOS Méditerranée ship is prevented from rescuing, there is a boat under each Libyan platform, which will never rescue anyone. These are confrontations of images which are crazy. This tells a lot.
How do you get back from this report?
I come home totally broken. On the boat, I published reports every evening, I had the impression of changing consciences. There, once I returned, I no longer had any control over things, I told myself that it was useless, that it was lost, it no longer had any meaning. This lasted six months, until a meeting with some kids. I showed them drawings, portraits, photos taken on the boat. They were overwhelmed, crazy about humanity. I couldn’t break hope. I told them everything that was beautiful. I realized that if I let go it was worse, it would be giving way to the “bad guys”.