"I am so awf'ly misunderstood"
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| Erik Petri presenting the day's topic. Section af The Graphic Recording. |
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| Erik Petri and Steve Brodner |
Misunderstood, as in cartoonists being pressured at every level of the drawing process. The beholders-by-chance for instance, who were not the intended audience, but intending to find every reason to protest. But not least there is the corporate world, at once all powerful and fearful of getting the most out of what it pays for, thus forcing the editors to avoid any hint of critical drawing on the same spread as its own adverts. As stated by Steve Brodner the hegemony of the US is the economical machine; a topic which by the way must not even be touched upon cartoonwise.
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| The Graphic Recording of the Master class by Erik Petri and Thomas Thorhauge and facilitated by Stine Spedsbjerg, September 26, 2015. |
A graphic recording was made on the points stated and the historical lines drawn (no pun intended, but doubly fitting in this instance) the whole of which is condensed in Gitte Skov's drawing:
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| Gitte Skov, September 26, 2015. The caption reads: "If our cartoons are read from right to left, instead of left to right, the readers might get another change of mood than our intention". |
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| Matt Bors (in the background) with Bob Katzenelson |
- a drawing which can be read either way, just as its protagonist is doing; the quintessence of the situation of cartooning. A high concept drawing as put by Matt Bors, while Steve Brodner declared it an act of "eloquence" as in being at once elegant (simple) and eloquent (but not too simple).
The drawing was Gitte Skov's response to the task given by Steve Brodner to the attendees: CONFRONT the cartoon with itself. Why wait to be misunderstood? Or rather, let us prove that a cartoon already contains its opposite. It is a dialogue within itself; only in this case cut a line right in the middle with a set of opposites on either side. Make the opposition a visible one.
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| The archetypical cartoonist's desk dreaming of giving in to the urges of doing anti-bullshit work. Section af The Graphic Recording. |
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| Annette Carlsen drafting from her sketches made, all done in matter of mere minutes. She drew on that photo we have all seen of the terrified father, who has just come ashore with his peacefully sleeping infant. - or is it alive, seeing his reaction? That penciled eye alone was hurtful to watch, consisting of but a circle and two lines above and still the pain was on the paper. |
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| Lined with ink; Steve Brodner drawing in the background, the whole room humming, at once relaxed and nervous from performing with all one's colleagues present. |
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| My only contribution was to look up "infant swimming", which turned out to have a formal description making for an even more chilling impact. |
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| Annette Carlsen, September 26, 2015. |
The cartoons shown are courtesy of their cartoonists and must not be reproduced without their permission. All photos were taken by me.
