Steve Bell's Eye: Cartoons, Geopolitics and the Visualization of the `War on Terror'

Abstract

This article explores the geopolitical representations of British cartoonist Steve Bell. The Bush administration's so-called `War on Terror' provides a political and visual backdrop to a detailed analysis of a number of Bell's editorial cartoons in the British newspaper The Guardian, as well as an interview conducted with the artist. As with cartoonists in the past, Bell's work seeks to provide a contemporary view of events in a manner that calls into question dominant practices and representations, such as the USA's `War on Terror'. This article is intended to further contribute to the necessary debate on how visual images and technologies are put to work for the purpose of making sense of the geopolitical world around us.