Say it with cartoons and nobody will feel humiliated
Say it with cartoons and nobody will feel humiliated
By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo
JAKARTA (JP): It is not easy to criticize without hurting someone's feelings but things come easier for cartoonists. With their humor, they can condemn society and the government while, at the same time, put a smile on their face.
The Japan Foundation, together with Taman Impian Jaya Ancol and the Indonesian Association of Cartoonists is currently holding The Second Asian Cartoon Exhibition at the Art Market Gallery, Ancol, North Jakarta, to June 26. The exhibition carries the theme Asia -- The Population Issue in My Country Seen through Cartoons.
It is a traveling exhibition, with Indonesia being the last country visited.
The exhibition features 90 cartoons by artists from China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Unlike caricatures, cartoons do not refer to specific figures in a society, rather they portray a certain trend, event, political act or group in society.
Through his cartoon Bangkok Breakfast, Thai cartoonist Sia depicts the lifestyle of a middle-class family. In his cartoon, the family chooses to deal with Bangkok's frustrating traffic jams by having breakfast in their car, on the way to work. Situations like this have become a common solution accepted by families throughout Asia.
Cho Kwan-jae from Korea voices a cultural complaint in The plight of rural areas: bride shortage and Will women be the superior sex in the 21st Century? where Cho tries to convey the message that if cultural preference for having a boy instead of a girl continues, the custom will eventually lead to an evolutionary decay.
Indonesian cartoonist Koesnan Hoesi from Semarang-based Wawasan evening daily seems to adopt common or popular themes in his cartoons. Through Water World, the cartoonist portrays a postapocalyptic world similar to that in the movie Waterworld.
In another cartoon, he modifies the tale of Noah, showing Noah declining to bring a pair of humans onto his boat after witnessing what humans have done to the world.
His most touching work in the exhibition may be a picture of a spirit sadly leaving a cemetery. Titled Chased from their graves the inscription below the cartoon explains that with population growth and rapid urbanization, even the dead aren't spared.
Uno Kamakiri of Japan subtly creates a parody out of the commuting dilemma in his country in Commuter in a Lunch Box. The cartoonist draws a large bento box filled with grains of rice portraying the Japanese national flag traveling on top of a railroad. Taking a closer look, the grains of rice are actually human faces.
Xia Qingquan from China points to the lack of recreational facilities in larger cities. In I Want to Fly a Kite, a man flies his kite from the window of his high-rise apartment. In another cartoon, a pair of workers play chess in the middle of a blocked road using the lighting from streetlights.
A physicist by training, B.P. Unni from India creates a satirical portrait of mismatched priorities in his country. In one cartoon he mocks the scarcity of water compared to the availability of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. In another, he criticizes the pollution that threatens the Taj Mahal.