About Cartoonists Unanimous

Samita Rathor

27, an advertising professional. Works at Bangalore based S&A Communications,an ad agency. Samita dabbles in women's issues. (http://www/bangalorenet.com/system1/samitha/index.html) and animal rights and squeezes time for cartoons. She currently contributes her cartons to Deccan Herald,Education World,Indya.com and few NGO's.Her work has been published in the Bangalore Monthly, The Hindu,The Indian Express,The Times Of India and a few other  journals.She has also worked with Hindusan Levers,Action Aid,British Aerospace.She has illustrated a book called "Things that make me go hmmm"...written by Anand Adkoli and published by Prism. She is currently working on a web ring with another cartoonist on female infanticide.

ABOUT CARTOONISTS UNANIMOUS

Juggling art with humour, reality with imagination, Cartoonists Unanimous, a motley
dynamic group of six budding cartoonists have arrived to stay. Occupied otherwise in their individual professional pursuits in varied fields, cartooning is their art with a purpose and humour their tool. The group’s exhibition on "PEACE"saw the coming together of purpose and passion, along with creativity and technology. It reflects a determination to make an impact without going commercial.

Cartoonists Unanimous intends to make people realize that cartoons can make people laugh as well as think.

"PEACE" was inaugurated on Friday, August 7th., 1998 by noted cartoonist Ponnappa and went on till August 15th., 1998 (India's Independence Day), at the Alliance Francaise. Alliance Francaise, Bangalore’s cultural hub has supported
Cartoonists Unanimous through and through. Cartoonists Unanimous had a treat lined up for the visitors to the exhibition where they got to take away their computerised caricature drawn by a member of the group. What’s more the visitors  were also given some tips on how to use computers to create laughter!

The group has had no formal training in the art of cartooning. Fired by a vision for change, they simply fine-tuned their latent skills at a Madhyam (an NGO) workshop conducted by noted cartoonist, Ponnappa. That workshop last year, in fact, brought the team together. Today, despite the group’s initial fiasco of bringing together a cartoon calendar, their works have become professional enough to find place in most of the city’s newspapers and magazines. Following the calendar fiasco, Cartoonists Unanimous had begun to disintegrate. Demoralised, the six had eventually lost touch. Until one of them conjured up a revival dream. An exhibition on Peace. As things stand today, the group has indeed been revived from its deathbed.

Cartoonists Unanimous is active once more with   many big projects to complete. With S & A Communications providing the much   needed infrastructrual support, Fabricana offering the necessary help in laminating the cartoons & Samita, Raghava, Rasheed & Balraj avoiding any practical hiccups, the run-up to the exhibition has been smooth enough.

A serious and responsible lot with vision and verve to match, this group of six believes not in dictating but reflecting life. "We do not want to impose our views on anyone. We just want to create awarness on current social issues. Cartooning is not our bread and butter. We just love to draw. If through our cartooning we can make people think and reflect then that would be the ultimate satisfaction for us."

"The first time the six of us met was at a cartoon workshop organized by Madhyam at Bangalore. The easy camaraderie that we shared soon translated itself into something more tangible. Fuelled by the enormous enthusiasm of Samita and Raghava, given the right direction by Rasheed, the idea for a new organization was born. After discussing many possible names, 'Cartoonists Unanimous' was unanimously chosen. Undeterred by the failure in getting the first project off-ground, Cartoonists Unanimous now embarked on an ambitious project. Something which would allow us to express ourselves. Something that would be very close to our hearts. Something that people would relate to. We unanimously chose 'Peace'. Strengthened by the induction of Balraj. The team now consists of Abhishek Hazra, Balraj, Rasheed Kappan, Raghava KK, Samita Rathor and Sunil Raj Phillip and Ayan Guha, the latest edition. The styles were diverse, to put it mildly. From the almost incomprehensible surrealism of Abhishek to the squiggly simplicity of Balraj, from the geometric stylization of Rasheed to the riotous contrasts of Raghava, from the austere godliness of Sunil to the vibrant earthiness of Samita, there were contrasts aplenty in style. The perspectives were different too, even though nuclear issues had a large mindshare.Then started the frenetic activity. We did not know there were so many nice people in Bangalore. Alliance Francaise de Bangalore came forward with the space. Fabricana put up the panels and lighting for us.The 70 odd cartoons that were exhibited at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore from the 8th to the 15th of August were drawn specifically for the series of exhibitions starting with this one. Intel Asia sponsored the inauguration. In fact Intel did much more. They had some of us trained in the State-of-the-art hardware and software technologies required for cartooning and animation. This synergy between technology and creativity was amply demonstrated during the course of the exhibition when visitors were caricatured on the computer. The response from art lovers and the press was unprecedented. The exhibition had over 2000 visitors. The press seemed to love the relevance of the theme and the fact that this exhibition was one of its kind. The press coverage was excellent and has motivated us to do much more in the future."