ChannelDraw
Gianluca Costantini

Julian Assange & WikiLeaks — Drawing the Right to Know

ChannelDraw · Gianluca Costantini · An archive beginning in 2011

Julian Assange
& WikiLeaks

Drawing the right to know. Books, portraits and a campaign for freedom.

Drawings for Julian Assange in Rotterdam
Rotterdam · 1 / 7

The project

A drawing can become
a public voice

Since 2011, Gianluca Costantini has followed Julian Assange and WikiLeaks through graphic journalism, portraiture, books and images made to circulate.

The work began with a graphic novel written by Dario Morgante and grew into a sustained visual commitment: drawings shared online, printed for campaigns, carried into public space and discussed in galleries, bookshops and festivals.

This page brings together that history: the early portraits of the people around WikiLeaks, the calls to stop Assange’s extradition, the images of Stella and their children, the 2024 book and the drawings that welcomed his release. It also follows the wider questions running through the archive—whistleblowing, surveillance and the public’s right to information.

A documented retrospective of the 90 distinct posts in the Julian Assange and WikiLeaks tag archives, spanning 2011–2025. Campaign slogans and appeals are presented in their original historical context.

01 · The origins

From hacker culture
to graphic journalism

The collaboration with Dario Morgante took shape in Julian Assange. Dall’etica hacker a WikiLeaks, published by BeccoGiallo in 2011. The book explores Assange’s story and the culture around WikiLeaks through documentary research, cinematic references and a visual narrative that moves between different moments in his life.

2011

The first book

A graphic biography in 144 pages. Original drawings also entered public space through exhibitions in Pietrasanta and Cotignola and a presentation with Wu Ming 2 at Bartleby in Bologna.

Discover the first edition →
2012–2013

A story across media

The book reached the International Journalism Festival in Perugia. In 2013, U10Fiction turned it into a sequence of 300 illustrated tweets; Zuni in Ferrara hosted original pages, workshops and discussions on digital democracy.

Explore #AssangeWikiLeaks →
2013–2014

Across languages

Luces de Gálibo published the Spanish edition, Julian Assange. De la ética hacker a WikiLeaks, in October 2013. Reviews in Spanish extended the discussion of the book and its approach to biography.

The Spanish edition →

The early portraits · 2011

WikiLeaks has many faces

The first group of portraits looks beyond a single protagonist. The archive includes journalists, collaborators, lawyers and family members connected to the story, alongside drawings of Chelsea Manning. Later works return to Manning, Edward Snowden and Jeremy Hammond, expanding the visual record of whistleblowing and digital dissent.

The linked historical posts retain their original titles, including the name used for Chelsea Manning at the time.

02 · Drawings for freedom

Images made to circulate

Across the years of asylum and imprisonment, the drawings became repeated calls for attention. They range from the Embassy Cat images and the DiEM25 intervention around the 2017 G20 to We are all Julian Assange!, Free Assange Now and portraits centred on the human cost of detention.

In 2021, the archive records participation in DiEM Voice’s Raise your voice for Assange!, a portrait shared by Ai Weiwei, and an interview in which Costantini reaffirmed his commitment to asking for Assange’s release. Posts on Postcards for Political Prisoners and Run for Our Rights also document Ai Weiwei’s solidarity initiatives.

Print · Share · Remember

Tools for a
collective campaign

In March 2021, Costantini made a Collateral Murder brochure available for the eleventh anniversary of the video’s publication. The archive preserves Stella Assange’s message thanking him for creating a resource for action both online and offline.

Download the brochure · PDFHome-printing files · ZIPDownload the Truth drawings

These are materials from the campaign before Assange’s release. The original “Truth” post explicitly authorises circulation of that set. See each source for the original files and context.

03 · Beyond the studio

The drawings in
people’s hands

The archive documents images travelling through demonstrations, cultural events and individual gestures of solidarity. These photographs and reports show how a drawing can remain visible through the people who print it, hold it and share it.

04 · The graphic novel · Altreconomia · 2024

Cover of Julian Assange. WikiLeaks and the Fight for Freedom of Information, Altreconomia, 2024
Dario Morgante & Gianluca Costantini · Altreconomia, 2024.

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks and the Fight for Freedom of Information

Words by Dario Morgante.
Drawings by Gianluca Costantini.

The 2024 edition returns to a story first told in 2011, following the world of hackers, the emergence of WikiLeaks and the struggle over freedom of information. The renewed edition connects that original work to the years that followed.

With contributions by Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International Italy, and Sheila Newman, activist and hacker. Published with the patronage of Amnesty International Italia.

PublisherAltreconomia
Publication24 May 2024
Pages160 · black and white
Format17 × 24 cm · paperback
ISBN9788865165386
LanguageItalian
The book at AltreconomiaRead the preview · PDFComplete book page
Interior page from the 2024 Julian Assange graphic novel
An interior page of the graphic novel.
Julian, Stella, Gabriel and Max, drawn by Gianluca Costantini
Julian, Stella, Gabriel and Max, drawn by Gianluca Costantini.

The book meets its readers

Conversations in public

Dates follow the book’s documented 2024 tour and the linked event posts. The Santarcangelo sources give inconsistent day-level dates; the event is therefore listed by month.

Publications & critical debate

The work in print
and conversation

The books and drawings have been discussed in Italian and international media. The record includes reviews, interviews and critical readings, as well as the portrait accompanying Marta Serafini’s 2024 interview with Gabriel Shipton in 7 / Corriere della Sera.

The 2024 book in the media
Earlier reviews and critical perspectives · 2011–2021

The early reception includes Federico Mascagni in l’Unità, Philip Di Salvo for the European Journalism Observatory, Massimo Galletti in ANIMAls, and essays by Daniele Barbieri and Luigi Siviero. Roberto Recchioni praised the visual construction while questioning the narrative’s distance from its subject. The archive preserves this disagreement alongside favourable readings.

05 · June 2024 and beyond

Hello.
I am free.

Hello. I am free. Julian — portrait by Gianluca Costantini, June 2024

After years of drawing the demand for freedom, a different image became possible.

The posts of 25 and 26 June 2024 mark Assange’s release with drawings of Julian, Stella, Gabriel and Max, and the words “Hello. I am free.” In July, Costantini shared the supporters’ video made by Stella Assange and reflected on being part of that collective effort.

The work continued after the release: through a family portrait in the press, the birthday event in Reggio Emilia, and the first anniversary in 2025. In Brussels, the anniversary gathering also brought the campaign for Assange into dialogue with Costantini’s portraits of journalists killed in Gaza.

Julian, Stella, Gabriel and MaxThe supporters’ video

A wider field of solidarity

Sources, witnesses
and digital dissent

The WikiLeaks archive also gathers drawings of Chelsea Manning’s imprisonment and release, a portrait of Edward Snowden during the NSA disclosures, and a call for Jeremy Hammond’s freedom. These works belong to the same sustained attention to the people who expose information and to the consequences they face.

Budapest, 2017: the gathering for Chelsea Manning’s release · Chelsea Manning — Free May 17! · Chelsea Manning and AnonUK Radio

The complete record · 90 posts · 2011–2025

An archive of
drawing and commitment

Every post from the two source tags appears below once, including drawings with no accompanying text, exhibition records, book pages, interviews and reviews. Dates are the original post dates; event dates may differ.

2025 · 3 posts
  1. Illustrated Lives: Politics, Art, and Memory in Costantini’s Comics
  2. Julian Assange, Gaza, and the Portraits Defending Journalism in Brussels
  3. Assange’s First Year of Freedom: Between Family, Activism, and Fragile Health
2024 · 17 posts
  1. The Trust Fall: Julian Assange
  2. Roland, an active citizen from Berlin…
  3. Presenting Julian Assange by Dario Morgante and Gianluca Costantini at Book Pride Genoa 2024
  4. Giving Face, Giving Voice. An exhibition by Gianluca Costantini.
  5. Our First Moment Together: A Bonfire on the Beach
  6. Assange Supporters Live Action Roundup
  7. Julian Assange on His Birthday
  8. Hello. I am free
  9. Julian, Stella, Gabriel and Max…
  10. Julian Assange’s Fight for Freedom, in Comics
  11. Anything to Say? Julian Assange, Bologna
  12. Gianluca Costantini at Catanzaro’s Nuvola Comics Festival
  13. Julian Assange Book Presentation — Latte Bookstore
  14. Assange and WikiLeaks in Costantini’s Graphic Novel
  15. Julian Assange
  16. Free Julian Assange Now!
  17. Journalism is not a Crime
2023 · 4 posts
  1. Truth. Julian Assange
  2. Julian Assange, Honorary Citizen of Naples
  3. Andrey Konstantin Hunk for Julian Assange
  4. Free Julian Assange
2022 · 6 posts
  1. Free my Dad
  2. Roger Waters: This is not a Drill
  3. Don’t Extradite Assange — Rome, 17 May
  4. Anything to Say? a Monument to Courage
  5. Free Assange Now
  6. The only way to keep a secret is to never have one
2021 · 13 posts
  1. Julian Assange in Venice
  2. Run For our Rights
  3. Postcards for Political Prisoners
  4. Happy Birthday Julian
  5. We Will Never Stop Calling for His Release
  6. Julian Assange Campaign: raise your voice for Assange!
  7. Capable, generous men do not create victims…
  8. Download the “Collateral Murder” brochure for Julian Assange
  9. Boston Rally to #FreeAssange
  10. Julian Assange — by Luigi Siviero: Propaganda and Lies, from Political Language to the Language of Comics
  11. Assange Avoids Extradition: Now a Pardon from Biden Is Needed
  12. This is not about me, it’s about you! Julian Assange
  13. Alan Rusbridger #FreeAssangeNOW
2020 · 3 posts
  1. Don’t Extradite Assange
  2. We are all Julian Assange!
  3. Free Julian Assange. Jail the war criminals!
2018 · 1 post
  1. Time for Julian Assange to walk free and see the sun
2017 · 6 posts
  1. Julian Assange – DiEM25 @G20
  2. Come on AnonUK Radio, Chelsea we’ll just hand yuoy the mic so you can say what ever you want
  3. Chelsea Manning’s Release Day — Budapest, Hungary
  4. Okay, so here I am everyone!!
  5. Hacker Julian Assange Drawn by Ravenna Artist Gianluca Costantini
  6. Chelsea Manning – Free May 17!
2016 · 3 posts
  1. Jeremy Hammond – Free!
  2. Free Julian Assange! Embassy Cat
  3. Julian Assange and the cat – Embassy Cat
2014 · 2 posts
  1. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks — by Jon A. Sedano
  2. Biography, Reportage, Mystery and Action Comics for the Weekend
2013 · 5 posts
  1. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks
  2. Whispers and Cries in Digital Democracy
  3. I am Bradley Manning
  4. NSA Spying Scandal
  5. #ASSANGEWIKILEAKS The first Twitter Fiction illustrated
2012 · 3 posts
  1. Julian Assange speech at Ecuadorian Embassy
  2. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks
  3. The World Tomorrow – Wikileaks
2011 · 24 posts
  1. Julian Assange in Comics
  2. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks
  3. The Online Apocalypse of Hacker King Assange
  4. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks
  5. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks — Palazzo Sforza
  6. Julian Assange: From Hacker Ethics to WikiLeaks — by Roberto Recchioni
  7. WikiLeaks — The Free Circulation of Knowledge
  8. Julian Assange — by Massimo Galletti
  9. Assange the Condor
  10. WikiLeaks at La Subbia Gallery
  11. On the Book about Assange and WikiLeaks — by Daniele Barbieri
  12. Reality and Comics: Hacker Assange Breaks into the World of Graphic Novels
  13. Mark Stephens
  14. Portrait Julian Assange
  15. Julian Assange
  16. Jacob Appelbaum
  17. Daniel Assange
  18. Björn Hurtig
  19. Kristinn Hrafnsson
  20. Daniel Schmitt
  21. John Pilger
  22. Gavin MacFadyen
  23. Vaughan Smith
  24. Bradley Manning #Wikileaks
Browse the Julian Assange tagBrowse the WikiLeaks tag

Gianluca Costantini / ChannelDraw

The right to know.
The responsibility to draw.

A book, a portrait, a sheet of paper in someone’s hands.
Different ways of keeping freedom of information in public view.

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