Aug 25 2024 to Aug 25 2024 11 a.m.

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Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Abu Abraham’s career as a cartoonist, columnist and artist spanned over 50 years, from the late 1940s to the early 2000s, during which his work appeared in a range of newspapers and magazines in India and the UK. Throughout this period of significant political change and upheaval, he critically responded to the political landscape, producing a rich and complex oeuvre that reflects these shifts. The ongoing centenary exhibition, “Abu’s World,” brings together, for the first time, the breadth of Abu Abraham’s work as a cartoonist and journalist across six decades. Through Abu’s political cartoons, drawings, caricatures, and writings from the late 1940s until his passing in 2002, viewers can journey through a lively political history of India and the world. As part of the exhibition, this panel discussion features cartoonists, journalists, and a historian. They will explore the impact and significance of Abu Abraham’s work in their respective fields and its relevance in contemporary times.

Speakers

E P Unny Cartoonist & Author E P Unny went to school and college in Palakkad, Kerala. After graduating in Physics and a brief stint as a banker, he joined cartooning in 1977 as Staff Cartoonist with The Hindu in Chennai. After 12 years, he moved to Delhi to join The Sunday Mail and went on to work for The Economic Times from 1993 to 1996, when he joined The Indian Express where he is the Chief Political Cartoonist. Between cartoons, he travels, reports, and sketches. He has published several books, including A Doodler’s Journey through Kerala, Santa & the Scribes –The Making of Fort Kochi, and Back with a Punch – RK Laxman. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Indian Institute of Cartooning in Bangalore

A S Panneerselvan Journalist & Author

A S Panneerselvan is a fellow at the Roja Muthiah Research Library and head of its Centre for Study in Public Sphere. He served as the Readers’ Editor of The Hindu, an independent internal news ombudsman, for nearly a decade. He is a regular columnist, journalism teacher, and adjunct faculty at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. With wide experience in both print and television journalism, he is also a member of the governing board of the K M Adimoolam Foundation for Arts in Chennai. Panneerselvan was a fellow of the Reuters Journalism Fellowship programme at the University of Oxford in 1998. He has authored an extensive biography of M Karunanidhi, published by Penguin Random House in 2021. The Tamil version was published in December 2022. The Government of Tamil Nadu awarded him the G U Pope award for his literary and journalistic contributions. He also served as the head of the jury for the 2022 JCB Prize for Literature.

Gokul Gopalakrishnan Cartoonist & Comic Art Researcher

Gokul Gopalakrishnan is a cartoonist and comic art researcher from Kerala, who has extensively published in both the popular and academic press. He has drawn editorial cartoons for the Deccan Chronicle, comic shorts for The Mint, Yoda Press, and Mantaray, and a long-running Sunday comic strip for The New Indian Express. He primarily writes on the history of cartooning and the narrative semiotics of comic art. He was one of the prize winners of the 2015 Maya Kamath Award for editorial cartooning and a recipient of the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) grant to research G Aravindan’s iconic Malayalam comic strip. He is also the curator of two comic art shows – “Flaneur in the City” (GallerySKE, Bangalore) and “Flaneur in Kochi” (David Hall, Fort Kochi).

Janaki Nair Historian

Janaki Nair was Professor of History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University until her retirement in January 2020. Her books include Women and Law in Colonial India (1996), Miners and Millhands: Work, Culture and Politics in Princely Mysore (1998), and The Promise of the Metropolis: Bangalore Twentieth Century (2005). She has published widely in national and international journals and served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Women’s History and Urban History. She has also held Visiting Appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, the German Historical Institute, London, and Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

Rohini Mohan Journalist & Author

Rohini Mohan has been a political journalist for 20 years. Based in Bangalore, she writes on human rights and politics. She has written for publications including The New York Times, Harper’s, Time, The Hindu, Economic Times, Foreign Policy, The Caravan, and Huffington Post. She is the author of The Seasons of Trouble, an award-winning non-fiction book on postwar Sri Lanka, and Mission Cycle, a children’s book set in Kashmir.