Displaying the humourous touch

Currently on at the Indian Cartoon Gallery, Midford House, near Kids Kemp, Trinity Circle, M G Road, the show will be on till August 25.  The show was kicked off recently by Sister Jean, the Mother Teresa of Sumanahalli, who has been serving people with leprosy in the City for the last 30 years.

“Rasheed’s cartoons have brought a lot of joy and humour here today. His works are worth great appreciation,” said Sister Jean, even as a group of blind students from the National Association for the Blind (NAB) felt and experienced the tactile cartoons on display.

Touching the art works and browsing through the Braille captions, the visually challenged wore a smile on their faces. Sheeba, a visually impaired computer student, while appreciating Kappan’s cartoons said, “I have really enjoyed the cartoons, especially the cow cartoon. It’s a whole new experience for me.”

Dayanand, a technical director from NAB, helped Kappan with the Braille captions for the tactile cartoons.  For Kappan, ‘Newstalgia’ is the eighth show so far. On his latest display of 60 graphic cartoons in the traditional mould, Kappan said, “This is my first effort melding traditional drawing and computer graphics. I have used colour for the first time. The section of tactile cartoons was tough to do, using paint that stick out and Braille captions. It’s not perfect yet, but with feedback from the blind, I should try to evolve. Most cartoons are based on every day news over the last three years. It covers politics, society and black humour.”

Introducing Sister Jean to the audience, Anup Lal, an assistant professor from the St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, lauded her yeoman service for the leprosy patients. V G Narendra of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists welcomed the gathering.