Rhino deaths, UPA-II feature in unique cartoon exhibition

TNN | Feb 18, 2014, 04.01AM IST

Times of India

GUWAHATI: A helpless rhino pleading chief minister Tarun Gogoi and forest minister Rockybul Hussain for ‘safe’, not ‘separate’, land stopped viewers in their tracks. Although only a sketch, its power to grab eyeballs was evident as visitors thronged young artist Nituparna Rajbongshi’s exhibition of cartoons at the city’s State Art Gallery on Monday.

“These sketches are a result of my observations. I have drawn events from the recent past, both in the country and the state, which touched our lives. Since childhood, I have been attracted by cartoons as this is one of the most effective ways of expressing one’s views. If it can change the way we think, I will be satisfied,” Rajbongshi said.

Aimed at amusing viewers and giving them some food for thought, Rajbongshi’s satirical take on the socio-political scenario of Assam and the country garnered him appreciation from all quarters. From the UPA’s food security schemes to rhino killings in the state, the cartoonist has drawn them all.

Guwahati cartoonist’s exhibition highlights political issues of India

Feb 19, 4:59 pm

ANI

Guwahati, Feb.19 (ANI): Satire cartoonist’ extensive collection of comics makes a scathing statement on contemporary politics and society at an exhibition in Guwahati.

Aimed at amusing viewers and giving them some food for thought, Nituparna Rajbongshi’s satirical take on the socio-political scenario of Assam and the country garnered both attention and appreciation. The artist has also published a collection of his cartoons.

Each comic bears a deep and powerful meaning. From the United Progressive Alliance (UPA’s) food security schemes to rhino killings in the state, the cartoonist delivered strong and powerful messages.

The 34-year-old young budding artist said on Tuesday that the cartoons are a resultant of her observations that she drew from the recent past, which touched people’s lives.

Meanwhile, a visitor, Anupama, said that exhibition of such kind are good considering our present lives being so mechanical and humourless.

“I am feeling really happy that I visited the exhibition. Nituparna Rajbonshi is a popular cartoonist and in her cartoons she has depicted a variety of cartoons. This kind of an exhibition holds importance today as hardly people get time to laugh or even smile. These cartoons make us laugh and also make us aware of the societal problems,” she said.

Another visitor, San Dester, said that the cartoons as a medium don’t just offer humour but are also enlightening.

“Actually the cartoon show is very informative as well as humorous as you can see that various kinds of informative topics have been discussed by our fellow friend Nituparna in the form of art and also it consists of the humour which make us laugh also inform us what is going on in and around us in the city,” Dester said.

Cartoonists often take on topics like consumerism, corruption and hypocrisy while transcending the public political topics traditionally handled by artists is their new take, highlighting social and emotional issues like loneliness, vanity and despair, which are more often handled by the fine arts and literature.

The exhibition will end on February 22.

Cartoons win students’ hearts

– Sketches send political & social messages

The Telegraph

A STAFF REPORTER

May 16: “Sir, I cannot find out the amount of salt and turmeric one should use while cooking dal for 15 people,” says a student to his teacher who is busy cooking a midday meal in a school.

This was how a cartoon of Nituparna Rajbongshi depicts the negative impact of midday meal scheme on school students in an exhibition organised today by the Cotton College Union Society (CCUS) at Manik Chandra Barooah Administrative Building in Cotton College.

More than 50 cartoons of Rajbongshi depict different themes on political and social issues of the state. Some of the cartoons are on civic issues, including artificial floods and piling up of garbage that affect the city residents.

The two-day exhibition is being organised to commemorate the death of human rights activist Parag Kumar Das who was assassinated by alleged Sulfa cadres on May 17, 1996.

The exhibition will continue tomorrow at the same venue.

“We have organised the exhibition to show the students how cartoon is a powerful tool in conveying political and social messages. As cartoons of Rajbongshi throw light on the current political situation and social issues, we invited him to hold an exhibition here,” general secretary of CCUS, Bedabrata Gogoi, said.

Veteran cartoonist Pulak Gogoi, the publisher of Cartoon, the first Assamese cartoon magazine, inaugurated the exhibition and later shared his experiences with the students for around one hour. He told the students how he received threats from a person in Panbazar for depicting the political situation between Russia and China in his cartoon.

He dwelt on how the political leaders in Assam appreciated cartoons a few decades ago and also on his struggle.

“Political leaders earlier could appreciate cartoons. In several instances I have found that despite being ridiculed by cartoons they never became agitated. They tried to understand the indications of the cartoons,” Gogoi said.

The students asked Gogoi whether cartoons could force the decision-making bodies to take any action on different social and political issues or whether becoming cartoonist was his childhood dream at a time cartoonists had limited sources of earning.

Cartoonist Rajbongshi said the aim of a cartoon is not just to provide entertainment. According to him, a cartoon is a strong tool of highlighting faults of the social and political situations through satire. “Cartoons do not only provide entertainment. These play an important role in socio-political situation of the state,” Rajbongshi said.

The students appreciated the cartoons. “Cartoons are always interesting. We enjoy cartoons in newspapers or magazines. These cartoons are interesting and throw light on different issues,” Barnali Kalita, a student, said.

‘Cartoon poetry’ book released

The Telegraph

A STAFF REPORTER

Jan. 3: A cartoonist here hit upon a novel idea — to unite the language of cartoons with poems — and the result was released in the form a book.

Cartoonist Nituparna Rajbongshi joined hands with six Assamese poets to bring out a book, Rekhare Kothare (With lines and words), containing poems penned around his creations.

Poets Samir Tanti, Nilim Kumar, Saurabh Saikia, Pankaj Gobinda Medhi, Jogen Taid and Pranab Kumar Barman have written five poems each on Rajbongshi’s cartoons, making the book a unique combination of cartoons and poems.

The book, an attempt to popularise cartoons, has come at a time when almost all cartoons in the state are confined to the pages of newspapers and magazines. Hardly three Assamese cartoon collections have hit the market so far.

“Any theme can be turned into poetry. After receiving the cartoons from Rajbongshi, I started writing poems with the feeling that cartoons and poems are very close to each other,” said Saurav Saikia. He said he was happy seeing his poems along with the cartoons.

He said he had changed his technique to write the poems in the book. “Some readers have even called me up about the changes. But sometimes, we need to change the way we write.”

Poet Pankaj Gobinda Medhi said when a poem was written based on a cartoon, the ideas behind the cartoon and the poem may not synchronise totally. “I wrote the poems from what came to my mind on seeing the cartoons. I carried the cartoons inside my mind and let the subject to go deeper till words came out spontaneously to make me write the poems,” he said, adding it was a new venture and readers would decide whether it had been a success.

“The relationship between paintings and cartoons is very old but I wondered whether cartoons could be brought closer to poetry. I discussed the matter with the poets, who were very enthusiastic about the idea. The book is just an experiment,” Rajbongshi said. “We have included social and political cartoons, some of which touch the issue of ecological conservation.”

Laughter’s the best pill, when taken seriously

– Cartoonists to brainstorm on the art form and its social responsibility at conclave today

The Telegraph

A STAFF REPORTER

Aug. 10: If you can’t get through the day without a dose of Dennis Mitchell or Lakshman, read on.

The cartoonists of the city have decided to take their job more seriously and inject a dose of social responsibility into their trademark humour and caricature.

The first step towards this “mission” will be taken at a discussion on Social and Political Responsibility of the Art of Cartoon at the State Art Gallery in Rabindra Bhawan tomorrow.

Prominent faces from the world of cartooning in Assam — Champak Borbora, Utpal Talukdar, Munu, Trilokya Dutta and Nituparna Rajbongshi — are likely to be part of tomorrow’s conclave.

“The art of cartoon is quite a provocative medium and if used in the right direction can bring several changes. Cartoon, with its humour and satire easily catches the imagination of the connoisseurs. Moreover, through cartoons, several social issues of importance can be raised for the greater good of society,” said Champak Borbora, veteran cartoonist and painter.

Of late, the State Art Gallery has turned into a venue for adda for the artist fraternity.

So when it came to organising the discussion, the gallery was all too ready to play the host.

“We have always supported a good cause. Now when the cartoonists of the city have decided to be more proactive and use their art form to highlight social and political issues, we decided to host them. Moreover, the gallery, since its inception in May, has been hosting interactions on various art forms on a regular basis,” said an official of the gallery.

Cartoon as an art form became popular in the city almost half-a-century ago, when newspapers, magazines and journals began dedicating a section of their pages to “cartoon space”.

But the art form was not taken seriously till three decades ago, when political cartoon was born.

With political cartoons, came mud-slinging matches.

But after creating some high-brow drama in the political circuit for a while, cartooning began to take a mild approach and a middle path.

Now, the cartoonists of the city wish to redefine their role yet again.

“More and more innovation and experimentation is needed in the world of cartoon. We have to deal with serious issues with great maturity,” said Borbora.

“More exhibitions and road shows on cartoons will bring the art form closer to the connoisseurs and will help enhance the popularity of cartoon as an art form.”

The State Art Gallery is all for it.

“It is a positive trend and needs to be encouraged,” said an official of the gallery.

Watch the cartoon space, denizens, was what he left unsaid.

———- Interviews ———-

———- Book Review ———-

Nituparna-Rajbongshi-Cartoon-collectionsAarchi

Name of the book: Aarchi

Writer: Nituparna Rajbongshi

Publisher: Jyoti Prakashan

Pages: 112

Price: Rs 70

“Ridicule is the only weapon the English climate cannot rust,” Lord Byron had said.

Nituparna Rajbongshi uses this weapon judiciously in Assam’s wet climate, sketching one scathing cartoon after the other, sparing no one but never failing to wrap each piece of biting sarcasm in unmistakable humour.

Aarchi, a collection of 200 of his carefully handpicked cartoons that have appeared in various newspapers and magazines over the years, is a collector’s item for all those who have been in love with his acerbic wit.

In Assamese, Aarchi means mirror — an apt name for a collection that reflects the cartoonist’s world as he saw it.

Cartoons, in fact, have always been a potent tool for social satire.

The spurt came particularly during World War II when the warring sides realised the power of the pictorial image to convey a powerful message both to the barely literate and to those who spoke a different language. Cartoons and caricature were hence part of propaganda campaign.

The rise of the caption-less cartoon drawings also expanded the scope for malicious lampoonery.

The art got a new dimension in Assam with Bahi, an Assamese magazine edited by Lakshminath Bezbaruah. In Bahi, Bezbaruah himself drew cartoons criticising the hypocrisies of his society.

The first cartoon magazine in Assam, simply called Cartoon, was published by Pulok Gogoi from Calcutta in 1967.

Compilations of published articles, poems and short stories are common in Assam but, for unknown reasons, the same had not happened with cartoons, for which a good many cartoons are lost forever.

By publishing Aarchi, Jyoti Publication, a leading publishing house of Assam, has ignited hope for other cartoonists in the state.

Rajbongshi’s collection has an interesting mix — while some reveal hypocrisies and double standards, other target specific groups like unemployed youths, housewives and any cartoonist’s favourite, the politician.

A glimpse into the development of cartoons in Assam as well as in India and the world in the book’s foreword will definitely help readers get an insight into this witty, expressive and extremely creative art form.

RAJIV KONWAR
Published on September 23, 2011. The Telegraph