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Comic exhibition by ‘commoners’

Staff Report

LAHORE: Bolti Lakeerain - an exhibition of comic wall posters by “common people” from India and Pakistan – was held at the Bukhtiar Labour Hall on Tuesday.

World Comics India (WCI) and Insan Foundation Pakistan (IFP) organised the exhibition.

Covering a vast spectrum of subjects such as alcoholism, education, health, gender equality, aggression, peace, friendship and nuclearisation, the described true stories of people from India and Pakistan.

Sharad Sharma, a cartoonist from Jaipur (India) and the founder of WCI, was the facilitator. He said exhibition was aimed at creating “common people’s media”. A large number of people could not afford newspapers, magazines or televisions, he said, and cartoons had proven to be the most powerful communication tools.

A lot of people from India and Pakistan had stories to tell, he said, and most of the posters exhibited were made by poor and uneducated people. “These comics are the reflections of the people who never had books to read or pencils to write.”

Sharma said the WCI had used posters in various rallies and campaigns to sensitise people about diseases such as HIV/AIDS and educate them in militancy-affected areas such as Tamil Nadu or far flung places like Rajasthan.

WCI had been promoting comics for 10 years, he said, and a number of people it helped had now published comic books. IFP Director Muhammad Mushtaq said the exhibition followed a training workshop organised by the IFP in collaboration with the WCI in December.

The workshop included intensive and highly interactive sessions on comics, he said, and Sharad Sharma taught the participants nuances of story writing, basic sketching and illustrations. He said the exhibition would bring India and Pakistan closer.

Mushtaq said a similar workshop and exhibition for children would be held soon.

He said local comics could be used as a mirror of culture, a tool of information and a medium for self-expression in small and alternative groups.

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