contents

Sidelines

Brandan

Brandan

BRANDAN REYNOLDS was born in Cape Town on July 4th, 1970. He studied fine art there at Michaelis Scool of Fine Art in 1988, and then at the Ruth Prowse…>

'20150111_brandan': Africartoons.com
Add Share
 
© Brandan | Jan 11, 2015 | Weekend Argus

20150111_brandan

Brandan Reynolds On Charlie Hebdo, Apartheid And The Power Of Cartoons

by  [Konbini.com]

It’s been a couple of weeks since the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris. Much of the world is still shocked, confused and bitter. For all the collateral damage of the events in Paris, one thing has been reinvigorated: the admiration for satire and cartoonists. Indeed in the following days after the shooting, social media was filled with cartoon homages and tributes to Charlie Hebdo. Following this, it seemed important to look at the larger global culture of cartoonists, and create a portrait of what its like the draw in the face of danger in the world outside Europe.

From the Western perspective, it was probably most baffling because these attacks did not happen in retaliation for directly political or economic reasons, but cultural. Even more so, for cartoons. As Luz said at the Press Conference before the Charlie Hebdo ‘survivors issue’: “We are cartoonists and we like drawing little characters, just as we were as children. The terrorists, they were kids, they drew just like we did, just like all children do.”

BRANDAN 

Brandan Reynolds was one of those kids too, born in the same year Charlie Hebdo was founded, 1970, but 5000 miles south of their office in Cape Town, South Africa. Coming from a mixed race ancestry, he was classified as ‘coloured’ under Apartheid. His teenage years were in the midst of the turbulent 80s, when ‘white rule’ was reaching its sticky end against international outrage and internal protests to the tune of Sun City.

He reflects, “There was a sharp decline of cartoons during the years of Apartheid as many newspapers closed and press freedom was challenged, but still many continued. It was during the 1986 when I saw a political cartoon by Derek Bauercriticising the Apartheid regime when I first realised the power and artistry that resided in cartoons. My interest in them was piqued which led to an obsession and eventually a passion for cartooning.”

MANDELA

You can feel this politicising effect this must have had on Brandon’s mind, like it would on any teenager. His work is witty, intelligent and, of course, utterly rebellious when it comes to politics. It covers everything from international politics, South African events to wider issues facing Africa such as Ebola and the terror cell, Boko Haram. It seems a whole other kettle of fish drawing in a ‘cushy’ European office which has an established history of satirical cartoons, compared to a stormy and deeply divided South Africa. Apartheid came to an end in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected President under the African National Congress party. However, the country still has its problems, which are reflected in the media and cartoons. As Brandon told us: “The press is seen as largely “white-owned” and therefore hostile to the ANC government’s agenda and often this misconception comes to the fore.”

He added: ”Although it’s subject to the usual commercial and social curbs, we have a free press and we are able to criticise government figures and politicians without fear of harassment or imprisonment. However, over the last few years, the government has been championing a contentious “secrecy bill” which sought to make it a punishable offence to publish or disseminate any  information that the government has deemed sensitive which has media and media workers up in arms.”

Although he said that the taste of African cartoonists is a little less “grotesque and savage” in comparison to European cartoons, the ever irreverent Charlie Hebdo was still a figure which him and many of his colleagues admired.

The cartoonist community was inevitably struck hard by the Charlie Hebdo shooting. Brandan explains that the reaction deep down in South Africa was much the same as it was in the West: “There was outrage from all sectors of our society, there were letters, opinion pieces, talk show debates. We cartoonists reacted, mourned our colleagues, drew cartoons and then drew some more!”

CHARLIE HEBDO 

In response to the events in Paris on the 7th January 2015, Brandan wrote this for the South African weekly Sunday Independent: ”While the kind of satire published in Charlie Hebdo was not too my taste, it often offended me too, the space is necessary as it gives expression to a dark corner of our shared humanity, it ensures that these ideas will either flourish or wilt in the strong light of day. In a word, it is Art. No-one should ever be killed for this. Strongly disagree, yes. Protest against, yes. Boycott, yes. Not ever killed!!!

He concluded that there needs to be even more money and love put into cartoons, so they can continue “to create powerful work that arouses debate, rattles the gilded cage of the high and mighty, jabs at hypocrisy, unsettles corruption, exposes the motives of those who redirect inquiry elsewhere and ultimately pick away the scabs of political correctness off the wounds of society so that exposure to oxygen will ensure deep, proper and lasting healing of the compounded wounds of humanity.”