KOCHI: In connection with Nehru’s birth anniversary and National Media Day, Kerala media academy and Ernakulam Press Club jointly organised a cartoon exhibition and seminar on freedom of expression titled ‘Don’t scare me’ at Ernakulam Press Club Gallery. Extending till Nov 16th, the exhibition was inaugurated by MLA John Fernandez. The display consists of over 61 cartoons drawn by 56 cartoonists including Subhani (Deccan Chronicle), Aysha Haseen, Gopikrishnan (Mathrubhumi), Sajith Kumar (Outlook), Diljeet Kaur (Hindustan Times), Kushal Bhattacharya, Ismail Lahari, Satish Acharya, Manoj Chopra and Jos Joseph.
The seminar going to be held at Ernakulam Guest House Conference Hall on Thursday will be inaugurated by retired Justice Cyriac Joseph and presided by R S Babu, Chairman, Kerala Press Academy with Cartoonist Bala as the special guest, who will also take part in an interactive session with the audience.
The exhibition mainly addresses the arrest of cartoonist Bala in Tamil Nadu and also exhibits many of his works including the controversial cartoon that lead to his arrest. This issue is a recurrent theme in all the works displayed in the exhibition. One such work is by Jos Joseph, which shows India as a tree on which the ‘bee hive’ of human rights and freedom hangs with actors, writers, poets and cartoonist, Bala has been portrayed as a bee from whom a ‘fascist’ bear attempts to steal the hive.
Another notable work is that of Sajith Kumar which shows a man in the grip of a giant yelling “The emperor still has no clothes!”, referring to the story of a child who dared to call an emperor naked while his citizens kept silent.Anoop Radhakrishnan’s work shows a pencil shooting ahead of bullets, asserting the fact that a pen is mightier than a sword. Diljeet Kaur’s work stands apart from all other works portraying a woman sitting in despair within the female symbol intimidatingly surrounded by male symbols. Apart from these, the internal politics of each state are also criticised in these cartoons, especially the actions of the government that go against the media’s freedom of expression.
“ This exhibition is unique as many cartoonists from across the country have contributed for this event, uniting for a single cause despite their differences. I believe this is because Kerala is the birth place of many great cartoonists like O V Vijayan who have always been a constant source of inspiration for cartoonists everywhere, “ says Unnikrishnan, the cartoonist.