Is there any meeting ground between cartoon and mental health. Most people would say no, but not Micheal Leunig, a cartoonist and poet from Australia.
Copies of nearly 30 works by Leunig were on display at a show titled, “Little things in life” at the Lotus Club here on Tuesday. Leunig, has been described as one of the 100 living treasures of Australia. The show speaks about little things that people have forgotten in their lives – simple pleasures of watching a sapling growing up or listening to a bird sing. In a subtle reminder, Leunig has shown in one of the cartoons people walking up to a building where ‘ancient music' is taught. Right by its side is a tree full of birds, bearing the name ‘very ancient music' and yet forgotten.
Cartooning thus opened up a new vista for media to engage the seamy sides of the society, namely issues of mental health, which is a refreshing departure from the contemporary media ecosystem, said Sashi Kumar, renowned media personality and chairman of Media Development Foundation and Asian College of Journalism, who inaugurated the show.
The situation is made more complicated when issues like these get lesser space in the media, as it concentrates on the ‘feel good news'. Just as G. Aravindan used to handle the social discourse of the day succinctly and irreverently through his weekly page of cartoon Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum , cartooning could address this issue in a different manner, Mr. Sashi Kumar said.
Another frame of Leunig captured the shallowness of contemporary media. Journalists line up, armed with microphones, as the news broke about discovery of a rare parrot believed to have been extinct for 130 years or so. The parrot is faced with the question on what message it has for mankind. After a moment of silence, the parrot breaks into a song.
The show was organised jointly by Mehac Foundation (Mental Health Care and Research Foundation) and Centre for Comic Arts (CCA). Babu Mather, trustee of Mehac Foundation, presided. Dr. Chitra Venkiteswaran, clinical director of Mehac Foundation, made a presentation about activities of the Foundation and Gokul Gopalakrishnan, trustee of CCA, spoke about Leunig and his art.
