Sketches by Merekov depict survivors at Kolyma camps.

Kersnovskaia drawing of conflict between criminal and political prisoners in a barracks. She recalled that urki(criminal prisoners) maltreated the famous scientist, Fedorov. Kersnovskaia tried to defend him, but criminals beat her severely. Many years later, Kersnovskaia received a letter of thanks from Federov for her having the bravery to defend him.

Professional criminals in the camps used their tattoos as a marker of their status. This sketch of a former Vorkuta convict's "grin" tattoo reveals that he is an experienced prisoner, having survived some of the toughest camps. It shows that he had passed through five corrective labor colonies from 1947 to 1963. The tattoo was made in 1962, the year before he was released. It also juxtaposes the grotesquely sexualized image with a text that recalls the Gulag's propaganda. The text reads "Greetings from the Vorkuta camps! 1947-1963. In the USSR labor is a matter of honor, valor and glory! Shelyabozh, Eletsky, Izhma, Kozhma, Khalmer-South."

Color sketch from Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia's self-illustrated memoirs shows a fight between two prisoners aboard a prisoner ship. In the accompanying text, Kersnovskaia recounts an episode when two female criminal prisoners were attacking and taking people's belongings with knives. Kersnovskaia could not tolerate the situation and began to fight back.