USk Reportage Grant Projects 2024
Visual storytelling lies at the heart of the USk movement. Urban Sketchers reportage grant program highlights stories from around the world that tell a story by capturing an event and showing context, characters, and setting. They highlight an aspect of local culture, moment in time, industry/trade, societal change in drawings and writing. The program is designed to highlight the best examples of drawing reportage in our community and inspire a new generation of artist reporters.
We are happy to present the final projects that were completely through 2024.
USk Reportage Grant recipients & Projects 2024
Rescue and Cultural Record of the Central Workshops of YPF (Fiscal oilfields): Illustrated Reportage in TIP S.A., Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina by Lia Navarro
In her illustrated reportage, “Rescue and Cultural Record of the Central Workshops of YPF,” Argentine sketcher and architect Lía Navarro brings to life a nearly forgotten industrial landmark in Comodoro Rivadavia, Patagonia. With expressive watercolors and narrative sketches, she documents the Central Workshops of YPF—once the beating heart of Argentina’s oil production and engineering might.
Lía’s journey began with the unexpected discovery of a massive gantry crane, still in operation after nearly a century. That moment sparked a deeper investigation into the workshops’ architecture, machines, and human stories—before they vanish under the weight of urbanization and economic change.
Sacred light, silent machines, and handmade artifacts
Through four evocative series, Lía explores themes of industrial erosion (The Workshops Are Surrounded), heritage architecture (The Company Town), the emotional impact of light and space (Solid Light), and the personal imprints of workers who once animated these halls (Someone Was Here). Her watercolors, often limited to just indigo and yellow, preserve what history books overlook.
A quiet act of preservation
For Lía, this reportage is not only about recording what remains—it is a tribute to forgotten craftsmanship and the cultural soul of a city shaped by oil. Her project is a call to recognize and protect Comodoro Rivadavia’s industrial past before it’s lost.
Air traffic control- How does it keep you safe? by Jorge Ossa
In his reportage project “Air Traffic Control – How Does It Keep You Safe?”, Colombian sketcher Jorge Ossa takes us behind the scenes of commercial aviation to meet the unsung heroes of the skies: air traffic controllers. With access to control towers and radar centers across Colombia, Jorge reveals how flights are safely guided from takeoff to touchdown.
Inside the tower
From the bustling control tower at Bogotá’s El Dorado Airport to the high-altitude command at Rionegro’s Córdoba Tower, Jorge was given rare access to observe the intense coordination between controllers and pilots. Through the eyes of seasoned professionals like Omar, Cristian, Ximena, and Santiago, he documents how radar, radio, and precise communication prevent mid-air collisions and keep airspace running smoothly.
A human touch behind every flight
Far from a sterile system of screens and commands, Jorge’s reportage highlights the deeply human side of air traffic control—its split-second decisions, layers of teamwork, and critical safety protocols. His vivid sketches and narratives reveal just how much goes into keeping passengers safe, often without them even knowing it.
Next time you fly, you’ll know: safety begins not just in the cockpit, but in the towers and control rooms you never see.
Borders, boundaries, walls. How physical and social division affects young people in Belfast by Laura Carrer and Elena Mistrello
In their deeply investigative reportage “Borders, Boundaries, Walls,” journalist Laura Carrer and comic artist Elena Mistrello explore the complex legacy of Belfast’s sectarian divisions and how they continue to shape the lives of the city’s youth. Through intimate focus groups, visual storytelling, and immersive fieldwork, they document how peace lines, cultural symbols, and inherited identities still define Belfast’s geography and daily reality—more than two decades after the Good Friday Agreement.
Youth caught between memory and future
Working closely with R-City, a youth-focused organization located on the fault line between Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, Laura and Elena reveal the personal stories of teens navigating invisible boundaries and tangible fear. Their findings illuminate how young people often inherit identity and division without choosing them—and how reconciliation is still hindered by physical walls, social stigma, and segregated schools.
Murals, memories, and mental fences
The project weaves together field interviews, symbolic artifacts, and striking sketches to illustrate how murals, flags, and urban architecture reinforce both pride and trauma. With the help of local guides and experts, the team reflects on how the youth of Belfast carry the weight of a conflict they never lived—but still feel deeply.
This reportage is a call to look beyond the walls—to listen to those growing up between what was and what could be.
In the wake of scientists by Delphine Zigoni
French scientific artist Delphine Zigoni has spent nearly two decades working at the crossroads of natural sciences and visual storytelling. In her reportage project “In the Wake of Scientists,” she documents the world of paleontology not just through meticulous sketching, but through a deeply reflective lens—examining how scientific knowledge is formed, shared, and remembered.
Digging with both trowel and brush
Each summer since 2019, Delphine has joined the excavation team at Angeac-Charente, one of Europe’s most important dinosaur dig sites. There, she works as both illustrator and field participant—unearthing fossils by hand while capturing the spirit of collaboration among researchers, students, and technicians. Her sketchbooks trace everything from fossil preparation and stratigraphy to the joyful discovery of a new dinosaur species: a Camarasaurus.
Sketching the roots of paleontology
Thanks to the USk Reportage Grant, Delphine traveled to Oxford and London to follow the origins of paleontology and scientific illustration. At the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Crystal Palace Park, she sketched historic fossil finds and reconstructions, revisiting the contributions of early paleontologists like Mary Anning and William Buckland—especially the overlooked work of women in the field.
Art that questions as it documents
More than just a scientific record, Delphine’s work reflects on the limits and biases of science itself. Through her drawings, she explores the “blind spots” of scientific objectivity, bringing attention to forgotten figures, cultural symbols, and the subtle power structures within research environments. “In the Wake of Scientists” offers a poetic and critical portrait of science—not as fixed truth, but as a living, human practice.