Places I Have Never Been

Archive, #20 Handbag, #20 Art & Comics / By
Harriet McDougall
Harriet McDougall is a designer, illustrator and graphic recorder with a fascination for people, their inner worlds and quirks of character. Coming from the field of human-centred design, she tells documentary-style stories that explore the human experience. Her work transports readers into the protagonist’s world, to spark empathy and recognition in even the most uncommon of subjects.
Comic. ‘Places I Have Never Been’ by Harriet McDougall. Page 1. Panel 1: A wide, high angle view of a comfortable living room. An elderly woman sits at a desk, grey roots fading into curly brown hair. She wears an orange dress and a red shawl. In contrast the room is coloured in soft greys and blues, with a green wilting pot plant at the centre of the coffee table. The woman is on a computer, mug of tea to her right. A cork board rests above the computer screen, absolutely covered in pinned photographs. Framed photos are sprinkled over a coffee table and along a wall. A speech bubble from the woman reads, ‘I used to travel all the time.’ Panel 2: A closer view of our narrator, she turns to face us. A brown cat lies sleeping on her lap. A speech bubble from the woman reads, ‘Thailand, Germany…the Swiss Alps…’ Panel 3: A closeup of two of the framed photos on the wall. The bottom one is discernible; we see two young women standing before a mountain range and setting sun. The woman on the left might just be our narrator in her green years, she has the same hairstyle but with dark-brown locks, and her shirt is a similar shade of orange. The woman to her right is taller, a darker complexion, with her hair pulled up in a bun and a pale green shirt. Both women wave to the camera. Panel 4: A close up of our narrator’s lap; she holds open a photo album and points to a picture of her younger self, same hairstyle, dark-brown locks, relaxing on a sunny beach with a big smile. The cat is jumping off her lap to make room with a ‘Mow!’ A speech bubble reads, ‘Look, here I am on our holiday to Costa Rica, ’72. Can you believe it?!’
Page 2. Panel 1: A close up of the kitchen sink piled with dirty dishes, pots and pans. A speech bubble reads, ‘There was a time I thought I’d never travel again…’ Panel 2: The narrator sits at her desk, her curly auburn hair framed in front of the bright computer screen. A speech bubble reads, ‘…That I’d just be stuck here, and never see all the places I longed to go.’ Panel 3: A wide panel showing a city street with Google Street View icons displayed, such as the navigation compass and zoom buttons. A speech bubble in the top left of the panel reads, ‘Then I found this thing…it’s called ‘Street View’.’ Panel 4: A speech bubble reads, ‘Now look!’ On screen, people walk along a narrow alleyway, likely a market. Fabric hangs in the foreground. Panel 5: A closeup of the narrator’s hand moving the computer mouse. Panel 6: A cropped image of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. Below the image, a speech bubble reads, ‘I’m in Casablanca!’
Page 3. Panel 1: A long panel of three framed photographs sitting atop a bookshelf. In each we see our narrator as a young woman with her friend. (Her partner perhaps? I wonder where she is now?) In the first photograph they stand by a windsock, mountains in the background and hiking packs over puffy jackets. In the second, they pose before the Eiffel Tower. We can only glimpse a sliver of the third photo, it seems to be her friend beneath a palm tree with the ocean in the background. Below the panel, a speech bubble on the lower right reads, ‘I’ve seen places I never could have dreamed of.’ The next three panels are designed to look like photographs, overlapping one another as if plopped down on a table. Panel 2: The narrator posing in front of her computer screen. On the screen are the Pyramids of Giza. Panel 3: A poorly framed selfie, the narrator smiles before her computer screen, this time displaying a forest. Panel 4: This one is framed pretty well, it’s convincing! It really looks like our narrator is standing before Machu Picchu. Panel 5: A speech bubble reads, ‘People on Facebook must be wondering how on earth I do it!’ The narrator’s Facebook page, showing one of the photos she’s uploaded of her herself posing before a historical building. Panel 6: A speech bubble reads, ‘HA HA!’ The narrator is sitting alone at her computer desk, a halo of light from the screen illuminating the dim room.
Page 4. Panel 1: A speech bubble reads, ‘Hopefully it won’t be too much longer until I’m off again for real.’ A closeup of her fridge, unsurprisingly dotted with photographs attached with fridge magnets, but also a single plane ticket: ‘Marrakech’. Panel 2: A closeup looking down at a packed suitcase and handbag waiting by the backdoor. From the suitcase’s handle dangles a tag, which complements a few stickers to suggest the case has seen a trip or two. A speech bubble reads, ‘It’s still sitting there, all packed, ready to go.’ Panel 3: Objects, all travel essentials, are spread across the panel. From left to right, a pen, a ‘Lonely Planet Morocco’ travel guide, sudoku book, peppermint candy, binoculars, a box of Kodak film, and a pair of sunglasses. A speech bubble reads, ‘I’m just waiting…’ Panel 4: The narrator’s street. We see her peeking out from her curtain to the right, but the rest of the street is presented as if we’re looking at it in Google Street View, complete with navigation compass and zoom buttons. The last speech bubble reads, ‘…For things to go back to normal.’ Beneath the final panel is the author’s name and date, it reads, ‘Harriet McDougall, 2020’.

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