This cartoon, titled 'Dutton's New/Old Image', by Alan Moir was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on the 22nd of July 2023. It is in landscape orientation, measuring 34 by 23 centimetres.
In the upper left corner of this cartoon, we find the words 'the new image' followed by an ellipsis, the 'dot, dot, dot' drawing our eyes to the sections below.
Underneath, six portraits are arranged in two even rows of three. They each contain an exaggerated sketch of Opposition leader Peter Dutton – a bald man in business attire. At first glance, the portraits resemble the sheaf of identical prints issued for passport photos.
For the figure's face, the linework is fine, stranding almost delicate facial features in expanses of colour – the face in pink and blue, the wide shoulders suited in pitch black, the shirt perfectly white and punctuated by the sky-blue tie. The figure stands out against a white background that is almost empty – to his left lurks his shadow, an oval smudge of grey and black.
The caricature's face is long, his nose upturned, his lips narrow and pursed. His small chin almost disappears into the dip of his shallow collar. His ears fold close to his bare skull. His skin is tinted pale pink, mottled with bloodless blue over his cheekbones and jowls. His eyes are almost invisible, and his expression is almost blank.
Each row is labelled in red handwriting along the right-hand edge, designating the first row 'old' and marking the second row 'new'. Beneath each portrait appear adjectives in black all-caps.
In the first row, we have 'happy', 'angry', and 'sad'. The three portraits are identical.
In the second row, the 'new' image, we have 'empathetic', 'apologetic', and 'apoplectic'. Once again, the face remains almost identical but for one minor distinction. In these three images, rectangular glasses are perched on the bridge of the figure's snub-nose, to which a pair of nostrils have been added. Together, these additions lend the countenance a hint of disdain. From first to last, from 'happy' to 'apoplectic' with rage, the image scarcely changes.
To the left of each squinting Dutton looms his shadow, shaped like a thumbprint. Beside the 'apoplectic' figure, this shadow intensifies, darkening to black.
Moir's signature is scrawled in the upper right corner.
The label text for this cartoon reads: When Peter Dutton was appointed leader of the Liberal Party after the 2022 federal election, some questioned his appeal to the general public. Cartoonists regularly draw him as either a potato, or as a somewhat otherworldly figure with pale blue or green skin. Here, Alan Moir portrays him as lacking in emotional depth and varied facial expressions.
