This award-winning cartoonist conveys social and environmental messages through humour

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 640 posts, we featured the following: art festival, cartoon gallery, world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

One of Bengaluru’s cultural treasures is The Indian Cartoon Gallery, tucked away in a lane off M. G. Road, Trinity Circle. See our photo essays on the gallery’s exhibitions from 2015 onwards.

The gallery celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. V. G. Narendra, gallery manager and curator, is also the managing trustee of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists. The institute recently launched the inaugural issue of the annual magazine CartoonistsIndia.

This month, the Indian Institute of Cartoonists is hosting an exhibition of cartoons by award-winning Italian cartoonist Marco De Angelis.

“We have been in touch with Marco for 15 years, and have been following his work closely. He has sent across a selection of 75 of his outstanding cartoons,” Narendra explains, in a chat with YourStory.

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Born in Rome in 1955, Marco is also an accomplished illustrator, a journalist, an editor, and a graphic designer. His cartoons have been published in over 200 newspapers and magazines in Italy and other countries since 1975.

“The messages in Marco’s cartoons cut across languages and cultures. The themes resonate across nations, and many of them have impact even without captions,” Narendra explains.

Marco was the editor of the magazine WittyWorld. He is one of three creators and the editor-in-chief of the online humour magazine Buduàr. Syndication service CartoonArts International distributes his editorial cartoons worldwide.

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Marco has won a wide range of awards and prizes for cartooning excellence: Golden Palm in the International Salon of Humour (Bordighera, 1997), as well as the first prize at competitions in Genova, Istanbul, Tehran, and Belgrade.

Other awards have been won at exhibitions in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Montreal. Marco is also part of The Cartoon Movement and Cartooning for Peace.

“I urge audiences to appreciate the powerful ideas about social and environment issues behind the cartoons and the creative manner in which they have been communicated,” Narendra emphasises.

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In this photo essay, we present some of the hilarious and thought-provoking cartoons by Marco De Angelis. The themes range from peace and justice to environmental preservation and social harmony.

“Imagination, inspiration, impact–these are the ways in which cartoonists became successful through their wit and humour,” Narendra signs off.

Now, what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and find new avenues to apply your creativity?

(All exhibition photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at the gallery.)

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