A satirical take on vagaries of society
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Class X student Sera Mariyam Binny and septuagenarian P V Krishnan women safety or the lack of it is a cause that motivated them to take up their pencils. Drawing cartoons is their method of sensitising the society against a menace that has gripped it viciously. Both of them are trying to depict the aberrations in modern society.
Sera uses symbols to represent women who are trapped in the guise of love. Trap’s sprung on women is something that senior cartoonist Krishnan wants to highlight. People with casting couch mentality and those who uses social media to prey on women are his subjects. Sera won the drawing competition held as part of the school arts festival recently, while Krishnan is a veteran cartoonist.
Along with Sera and Krishnan, 32 other cartoonists have showcased their work on the theme ‘Women Safety’.
The cartoon exhibition titled ‘Nervarakal’ has been jointly organised by Kerala Cartoon Academy and Press Club. “Cartoon is the best medium to make people think. The role of the cartoonist is to drive home a point using a few lines,” says Krishnan.
The cartoons displayed at the Press Club express various issues that revolve around women safety. Some of it points to the shortcomings of the society, policing and superficial ways to address it.
Paintings talk about the concerns of a girl in womb, parents bringing up a girl, their helplessness, prevalence of social media and its role in worsening the situation. A painting by Aysha Haseen, who works as an art teacher in Dubai is particularly noteworthy. In her painting a girl walking alone is uncomfortably watched by ‘eyes’ in the buildings around. It is something that many women experience daily.
Are the cartoonists offering any remedy? Some of them are pessimistic and mock at the system that drags women reservation bill for ages or the unresponsive society while some of them prescribe remedy in terms of harsher punishments.
Cartoonist Sageer gives an interesting interpretation to the ancient script ‘Manusmriti’ with incidents of sexual abuses of women in various age groups at the hands of priests in different religion.
Cartoonists who have contributed to the cause include Soorya Maria Kurian, Remadevi, Manjula Padamanbhan, Yesudasan, Salviya Raj, K Unnikrishnan, T V G Menon, Anoop Radhakrishnan,Aneesh Thomas, Raghupathi, Hemanth, Sudheernath, Manoj Mathasseril, M M Monayi, Prasannan Anickal, Madhu Omalloor, Madhoos, Elias John, Jayaraj Velloor, G Hari etc. ADGP (prisons and correctional services) R Sreelekha inaugurated the exhibition.