Comic Show,Seriously?

“We take copies of these sketches and paste them around the area. This gives the locals a sense of self-empowerment and self-expression,” says Delhi-based cartoonist Sharad Sharma,who has been running the comic art workshop for more than a decade. A former political cartoonist and founder of the World Comics India,he believes that comics can make a difference because it is an easy tool of communication. Sharma’s Grassroots Comics Movement has spread to Pakistan,Nepal,Sri Lanka,Europe,Latin America and the Middle East.

If you thought cartoons and comics were a laughing matter,step into Sharma’s workshops. Or flip through Orijit Sen’s book,River of Stories. Published in 1994,this was,arguably,the first example of using comics to draw attention to a complex issue — the Sardar Sarovar project. Bangalore-based NGO Communication and Development and Learning,too,has used the comic form to talk about child rights,and water conservation.

More recently,Delhi-based artist duo Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra used comic icons to spread sexual awareness. Called “Put it On,Again”,their exhibition,held in January in Delhi,used characters such as Wonder Woman,Superman and Captain Marvel on posters and installations. “Superman is every girl’s man. He wears latex and we used that to drive home our point,” says Thukral.

The medium’s non-threatening nature makes it an apt vehicle of heavy ideas. The book series,Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability,for instance,talks of the problems of dalits. Artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyas have adapted tribal aesthetics into comic form to tell stories of injustices.