Le Point

An editorial illustration for Le Point

Le Point commissioned Alsu Khasanova to illustrate an article about femicide. For such a sensitive subject, the image had to do more than decorate the page: it needed to catch the reader’s eye, support the story and convey its gravity without depicting violence literally.

The illustration shows red shoes arranged in an archive drawer. It brings an intimate, everyday object into a cold, methodical administrative setting. In a single scene, that contrast suggests the distance between the lives at stake and the way they can be reduced to files or statistics.

Alsu Khasanova’s perspective

Khasanova builds the image around an idea that reads immediately while leaving room for the viewer’s interpretation. Red draws the eye; the repeated drawers suggest both accumulation and the absurdity of bureaucracy. The image works alongside the journalism without summarising it or distracting from its subject.

This is what strong editorial illustration can do: distil a complex issue, evoke an appropriate emotion and give an article a distinct visual identity. Khasanova’s singular style treats the theme with restraint while creating a memorable image.

Bringing the subject and artist together

The project shows VO Talents Agency’s role in editorial commissions: finding an artistic sensibility suited to the subject and connecting a publication’s brief with a visual voice. The result combines the narrative force of Khasanova’s work with the demands of reporting on a major social issue.