The animals look bemused, right from the monkey cub to the bear mom, watching a human family quarantined inside their homes, as if at a zoo. The colour palette is straight out of a children’s drawing text, the creatures reminiscent of Disney creations. The message isn’t though, the chilling tragi-comedy of it coming through with such impact that no translation is needed for anyone to figure this one out.
Created by Malayalam cartoonist Subhash Kalloor, it is only one amongst the hundreds of cartoons that have been put up as ‘Sanitized Toons’, an online exhibition of cartoons related to COVID-19, now online on the Facebook page of the Kerala Cartoon Academy. The selections are from around the world and from across Indian languages, including some of the biggest names in the country’s cartoon scene, like E.P. Unny of The Indian Express, R.Prasad of The Economic Times, Jairaj T.G. of The Week and many others.
The Academy had initially conducted a cartoon exhibition on the coronavirus in Kannur, Kerala as part of an international exhibition there, but response was low as the epidemic was still to impact India majorly then. “Then, we thought of doing it across hospitals and other public places in Kerala in March, but the restrictions and lockdowns prevented us from doing so,” said Sudheer Nath, who is moderating the venture, “so we went in for an online model.”
The name ‘Sanitized’, beside its obvious connotation, has an added meaning here.” With communal colours being added to the developing situation, we decided to ensure that no cartoons of that sort would be part of our compilation,” Nath points out, adding, “our aim is not even to put together a bunch of humorous cartoons, essentially they need to have a positive message.”
With so many cartoons flowing in, the moderators are now thinking of compiling various volumes and sub-albums for easy viewing. While there are already two volumes, a gallery featuring cartoons by children is set to go live on Tuesday, which is also the auspicious festival of Vishu.
