This cartoon of Reaping the Whirlwind by Sam Ainsley (b.1950) shows a black and white scene of two figures, one reading and the other holding up part of the Earth held by a tree. Another figure's hand enters from outside of the scene and is seen to be holding a jar that is overflowing. Pillars stand tall in the background and a depiction of a puncture is seen amongst the tree's branches, creating the illusion of the artwork bearing damage. This pencil and charcoal rendition evokes some of the elements of the painting Reaping the Whirlwind that was part of The Vigorous Imagination exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA). The cartoon was featured on the colored banner designed to hang on the outside of the SNGMA. Similar to the painting, this cartoon draws on the artist's feminist influence through depicting feminine figures as the centre of the work and her ongoing work within environmental art, which seeks to reflect on human relationships with the environment as seen with the woman and tree being joined with the globe. 

Sam Ainsley, born 1950

Born in North Shields, Ainsley studied at Newcastle Polytechnic and Edinburgh College of Art. She has been at the heart of contemporary art in Scotland since graduating in 1978. From the early 1980s and the 1990s she was tutor on the legendary environmental art course at Glasgow School of Art, which trained a generation of Scottish Turner prize winners, led by conceptual artist, Douglas Gordon. She co-founded the MFA post-graduate programme at the GSA and served as its head until 2006.