Reasserting the tenets of Gandhi- Art contest draws 1,000 entries from 54 countries
Moving illustrations drawn by cartoonists Bahman Halali from Iran and Mahafuj Ali from Kolkata were among the winners of an art contest, organised last month by Ekta Parishad, a Gandhian movement for the rights of the marginalized.
Illustration by Halli shows a boat lurching through a rough sea. The sail propelling the boat forward has a world map imprinted on it and is an extension of the loincloth of Mahatma Gandhi.
Another illustration by Mahafuj Ali, a Kolkatan landscape architect by profession and a cartoonist by choice who now lives in Australia depicts a group of people hurling bombs and bricks. As the silhouette of Gandhi appears on the horizon and the violence stops. The reference — Batman rising over a Gotham at war.
The winning cartoon in the Indians’ category, made by Sudhir Pagare from Maharashtra, showed Gandhi stitching a tattered world.
The runner-up was Nanjunda Swamy Y.S., from Karnataka, who showed Gandhi healing the world with two intravenous drips, of truth and non-violence.
The third position went to Izabela Kowalska from Poland. Her cartoon depicted Gandhi writing on a paper. The words are like flowers and Gandhi is surrounded by doves, messengers of peace.
The contest was presided over by the panel of judges included Yaser Ahmed, an artist from Syria; Valorie Traore, a rights activist in Senegal; Hardy Merriman, a US-based scholar on civil resistance; Jiivanii Redmarks, a curator and artist in Florida. The jury consisted of two Indian members namle diplomat-turned-politician Shashi Tharoor and Vikram Nayak, a visual artist and documentary filmmaker.
With the idea of reasserting the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in today’s world, the contest invited cartoons and caricatures projecting Gandhian values as a solution to the conflicts around the world. They received over 1,000 entries from 54 countries. With so many entries from foreign countries Gandhi’s influence is still felt beyond India.
“Indiscriminate loot of resources, mixed with the role of society and governments indulged in this vicious circle, are causing poverty, exploitation, injustice and violence. In this situation, the ideology and path of action shown by Mahatma Gandhi are an established and time-tested reference for us,” said Nayak, who has been associated with Ekta Parishad for 15 years.
According to organisers, they wanted to use the power and influence of cartoons as a powerful communication tool, where a thousand words fail to express, a small picture suffices.
