Environment, migration, technology: How this cartoonist frames critical issues with a touch of humour

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 855 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

This month, the Indian Cartoon Gallery (ICG) is hosting an exhibition featuring the works of award-winning cartoonist Angel Boligan. See our coverage of exhibitions at ICG from 2015 onwards here.

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The gallery, located near Trinity Circle in Bengaluru, hosts the annual Maya Kamath Memorial Awards (MKMA) competition. It receives over 400 entries submitted from around the world.

“Angel Boligan has submitted cartoons for the MKMA competition in the past. Seven months ago, I approached him to send cartoons for a solo show rather than a group show,” VG Narendra, Managing Trustee of ICG, tells YourStory.

Born in Cuba in 1965, Boligan was earlier a professor-instructor of plastic arts in Havana. Since 1992, he has been residing in Mexico as an editorial cartoonist and illustrator for the Mexican newspaper El Universal.

Boligan’s works are also featured in a range of international media. For example, he maintains a comic strip in the Sunday space of the Argentinian newspaper La Nación.

The cartoonist has sent around 60 of his best works to ICG in Bengaluru, which are now on display. “No words are needed to describe the messages in his cartoons. Many do not even need a caption,” Narendra describes.

Boligan was awarded the National Journalism Prize of Mexico on three occasions—in 2009, 2013, and 2019. He also won the journalism award in the cartoon category from the American Newspaper Group GDA in 2013, for his works published in El Universal.

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In 2016, he was bestowed with the ‘La Catrina’ recognition, which is awarded to outstanding personalities of graphic humour in Latin America. This honour was given at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Boligan has also won a journalism award from the Internet-American Press Society (SIP) in 2023 for other works published in El Universal. His tally now spans 212 prizes, awards, mentions, and recognitions in international caricature events and competitions.

Over the last 15 years, ICG has featured a range of Indian cartoonists such as Soumyadip Sinha, Chiluveru Mrityunjay, Malatesh Garadimani, Shreyas Navare, and YS Nanjunda Swamy. The international showcase has included Marco De Angelis (Italy) and Klaus Pitter (Austria).

ICG has also held earlier exhibitions on International Women’s Day. Other special showcases have been themed Cartoons for Social Change.

Hundreds of visitors have poured in already to view Boligan’s cartoon exhibition at ICG, according to Narendra. Many of them capture the plight of refugees, the challenges of living in an increasingly digital world, the ups and downs of parenthood, and the dangers of environmental destruction.

Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?

(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at the Indian Cartoon Gallery.)