Exhibition of Oleg Karpovich’s political cartoons opened at Presidential Library
The tougher time gets, the more interesting it is to draw
In the past few years, the genre of political cartoons has regained its former importance and no longer looks like a greeting from the past. Caustic and satirical drawings on the topic of the day from the artist Oleg Karpovich – the very ones that readers of the publications of the Belarus Segodnya Holding almost daily see on the pages of our newspapers – have recently become a kind of mirror of society and its moods, acting as the strongest ideological weapon.
Last year, together with his colleagues – journalist Lyudmila Gladkaya and publicist Yuri Terekh – Oleg Karpovich analysed in detail the events, personalities and motives behind the attempted ‘colour revolution’ in Belarus in August 2020. This is how their joint project, entitled The Reverse Side of the Rebellion appeared, supported by the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House and awarded a special prize of the President to art luminaries. Nowadays, Karpovich’s political cartoons set off on a solo voyage, with the artist’s personal exhibition unveiling at the Presidential Library of Belarus.
Thematically, the exposition consists of two parts: illustrations for The Reverse Side of the Rebellion project and drawings for another project of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House: True Values. Interestingly, the exhibition has only a working title so far and its author, artist Oleg Karpovich explains why, “True Values are our eternal values: family, hospitality, peace, memory, love for the Motherland... All the best, which is actually the code of the nation. Therefore, the title War and Peace is requested for the exhibition. After all, on the one hand, we are talking about the topic of an attempted ‘colour revolution’, while on the other hand, we are talking about peace, kindness, and creation. But I didn’t want to use the word ‘war’, so the exposition is nameless for the time being. In general, how many personal exhibitions I had, this one – displaying particularly political cartoons – is the first. However, I am not a pioneer in this genre. For decades, caricature has been a weapon of war during wartime and has worked very effectively. When you start laughing at the enemy, you are no longer afraid of him.”
“You know, people often argue which came first: the chicken or the egg. Oleg and I had a similar dilemma. What came first: his drawings or our texts with Yuri?” asks the co-author of The Reverse Side of the Rebellion project, Lyudmila Gladkaya. “Sometimes it is really difficult to say how this or that idea originated. Sometimes, some events happened, Oleg drew something, showed to me and I understood: this is really a topic that needs to be raised and worth talking about. I held onto his drawing and the text was already born from this. It also happened vice versa: the topic came from me and caricature – from him.”
Publicist and columnist of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House, Yuri Terekh, admits that at first he did not even imagine what a large-scale project his columns on the SB pages would eventually turn into, “Lyudmila and I were writing, Oleg was illustrating... So imperceptibly all this gathered into a project, and later into a book. At some stage it came as a huge surprise to me though everything has changed over the last two years. Approaches towards journalism and presentation of information have changed. Everyone understood that information is a serious weapon, and it is obvious that it will not be easier further, since the so-called opposition will not leave us alone.”
Director of the Presidential Library Sergei Kvachan recalled that the information war is not just continuing but is gaining momentum. So, now it is important to protect one’s own information space, “At a recent meeting focusing on current issues of the mass media activity, the Head of State accurately noted that there is a global and full-scale information war for the minds of people, for the future of our children, and we cannot lose this war. In my opinion, the organisation of the political poster exhibition will enable readers of the Presidential Library to get acquainted with the work of journalists who daily fight in this war, defending the interests of every Belarusian.”
The Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Commission on Human Rights, Ethnic Relations and Mass Media, Valentina Razhanets, is among the honoured guests of the exhibition. Being herself a journalist by education, she is confident that with the help of artistic and visual means, any goal can sometimes be achieved much faster than with long explanations and negotiations, “The pen has long been equated with a bayonet for good reason: sometimes it works much more efficiently than any weapon. Grotesque, satirical, truthful and deep drawings by Oleg Karpovich confirm this. These works are special because they contain the truth of life.”
