Rema Devi was awarded the honorary mention at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in 2015. Her cartoon on the Paris terrorist attack won her the award.
A good cartoonist is someone who has the capability to blend different disciplines into one common thought. The output would then be magical. 44-year-old Rema Devi takes to mural painting, digital painting, cartoon, live caricaturing and photography. She is passionate about travelling and writing as well.
“An incident or even a single word can be the reason for a cartoon to take shape. In my case, the inspiration for the cartoon that won the award was a conversation I had with a friend.” said Rema Devi. Rema Devi’s award winning theme ‘Paris Eiffel tower attack’ is of global perspective. The instincts of a photographer too reflects in this cartoon. “Sukumaran Potty, the popular satirist and cartoonist from Kerala, was a thriving force in building my talent,” said Rema Devi.
“The field of cartoon is male oriented. Women are rarely seen here. Nigar Nazar, Maya Kamath, Manjula Padmanabhan are the notable lady cartoonists in recent times. Remadevi is another lady cartoonist to fill the vacuum of lady cartoonists in the country. She is talented and deserves to attain greater heights.” said Prasannan Anikkad, Chairman of Kerala Cartoon Academy.
“Rema Devi will be a role model for students, especially girls. They can take her example and opt for this course without hesitation, if they are passionate about caricaturing.” he added.
There are 150 cartoonists in the academy, but only 50 are active. When the new government took charge, the cartoonists drew 141 MLA’s caricatures on paper. Rema Devi did her first live caricaturing during this occasion.
She had also done a live caricature of Professor Suja Susan George in karukachal, Kottayam, on the occasion of Purogamana Kala Sahithya sangam. Her works, along with other cartoonists’ work, will be exhibited on 26 December in Darsana academy, Kottayam. The theme of her work is ‘demonisalization’.