Kochi: When too many cartoons featuring Mahatma Gandhi start appearing in media, it could be a sign of some kind of social anxiety, veteran political cartoonist E P Unny said in Kochi on Sunday. Unny made the observation as he delivered a lecture on ‘Gandhi in cartoons’ as part of an ongoing multimedia art exhibition commemorating Gandhi’s martyrdom.

To drive his point home, Unny cited the flood of cartoons featuring Gandhi during the tension caused by the Babri Masjid demolition. He said cartoonists looked upon Gandhi as a metaphor for the moral force in stark contrast to the usual negative traits of politics and society.

“Cartoon is a negative medium. It’s often used to demolish or debunk a personality. It tries to find solutions to the existing problems within the limits of party politics. Gandhi (as an image) is not needed in that matrix. But Gandhi naturally will appear in cartoons when one has to deal with issues like communalism, corruption and splurge,” Unny said.

With a presentation, Unny explained how Gandhi appeared in cartoons over years during different phases of his political activism and even after his death. He said Gandhi had become a popular face in cartoons as early as 1907 during his activism in South Africa. He said after returning to India and joining the freedom movement, Gandhi’s change in his dressing and appearance made it easier for cartoonists to caricature him. “However, it became difficult for cartoonists to find fault with his politics,” he said.

Unny said no other political leaders had influenced cartoons like the way Gandhi did. He said cartoonists across the world saw Gandhi as an equal to the great leaders of their countries. Citing Gandhi’s stint as the editor of Indian Opinion, published from South Africa, Unny said Gandhi had understood cartoon as an art of conversation.

The talks were held as part of a series of programmes being held as part of the exhibition titled, 'You I Could Not Save, Walk with Me,' which started on January 30 at Durbar Hall Art Gallery. The show features travelogues, artworks, videos, and installations that commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom, based on the journeys by historian and poet P N Gopikrishnan and photographer Sudheesh Ezhuvathum to Navkhali, Bihar, Calcutta and Delhi where Gandhi spent the crucial days in his final two years. Renowned painter Murali Cheeroth and human geographer Dr Jayaraj Sundaresan who were part of the journeys are the curators of the show. The show will run until February 18. The exhibition is open from 11 am to 7 pm.