Category: politics

Behind the lines

I stumble upon an unusual show in the State Library on my way to the bus and what a surprise. It’s strangely relevant without any reference to the dreaded COVID. But Behind the Lines is a political cartoon show based around the year 2019 so there is no pandemic, no stock market crash or storming of the Capitol.. It’s like stepping back in time without the final act. How refreshing to see everything lampooned so. Nothing is off the table. You are taken on a journey that is hilarious and informative and you are reminded of the loony politicians and their destiny of obscurity. Curator and writer, Jennifer Forest had to choose eighty odd pictures from over one thousand exhibits for the show and managed a fabulous selection. The Museum of Australian Democracy of Old Parliament House has a repository of images that defies its somewhat archaic title. Where cartoonists reign, political correctness is certainly absent. Nothing escapes the cutting satire of such traditional means as pen and paper regardless of updated communications such as messaging or YouTube. I guess everything is brought down to size. As I wander around perusing the pictures I can’t help feeling strangely uplifted. Is it because of the lifting of contagion restrictions or because of the lampooning? Who cares this is a gas.

Behind the Lines 2019 is a travelling exhibition developed by Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

Cathy Wilcox
Mark Knight
Jon Kudelka
Alan Moir

Just a few of the cartoons on display for Behind the Lines 2019

Young Hitler

He was a bohemian with shoulder length hair. A street dweller with delusions of grandeur- only in his case, actually achieving grandeur while remaining delusional.
He sketched the buildings and facades around him and failing entry to art school remained naive to contemporary artistic trends. He was somehow stymied and instead of open mindedness toward Austria’s eclectic cultural world his outlook remained protracted – he would appreciate only Wagner and Classicism. Continue reading Young Hitler

Contagion

It’s amazing how quickly things change. In the space of a week we are somewhere else, what we care about, what we act upon. A fortnight ago seems the distant past, another world considering the maelstrom of events. We lived with endless opportunity and unlimited possibilities. You could go anywhere, get anything or even be anything you wanted.

Continue reading Contagion