Nothing could reflect the current milieu of the Kerala society better than the cartoon of a drunken man walking into the Grim Reaper holding a scythe who is hidden behind a liquor bottle. The cartoon, by cartoonist Harikumar, popularly known as ‘ha-ku’, is exhibited at a cartoon therapy for alcoholics conducted at Museum Auditorium here.
The exhibition on the theme of the Malayalee’s obsession towards alcohol and its ill-effects is the third in a series of social awareness cartoon exhibitions conducted by ha-ku, the silent campaigner.
“Kerala is breaking all records in the rate of consumption of alcohol. It is the sole reason behind a good number of accidents, family problems and suicides. This is an attempt to get across the message using a comic and sarcastic medium,” said Harikumar.
A period of six months was taken to complete the 50 cartoons exhibited here. His first exhibition was to spread awareness against road accidents. The second was on the alarming rate of rapes that happen in our society, conducted in front of the Secretariat.
The cartoons are first drawn on paper. Then, they are scanned and coloured with the help of a computer. After that, the digital prints are taken for exhibition. Plans were there to frame the cartoons but it was eventually dropped as it was not affordable to the cartoonist.
Harikumar, who has been drawing cartoons for around thirty years, has worked with several news publications and animation companies. He is now working with Vyga animation, where he makes drawings for their picture stock services also. Drawing pictures for the stock services also is a good training for cartooning, says Harikumar.
The exhibition is promoted by the Kerala State Beverages Corporation, the Department of Tourism and NIMS Heart Foundation.
Harikumar is planning to conduct an exhibition to spread the message against smoking next. He has also applied for the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi grant to conduct an exhibition in Kochi.
Attempts are on to use the cartoons for awareness programmes in schools and other institutions. After the exhibition on road accidents, the Motor Vehicles Department has made the offer to use the cartoons for its awareness programmes.
The exhibition will conclude on July 20.