Cartoonists to convene at Sanur Festival

Irawaty Wardany and Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Sanur   |  Wed, 08/06/2008 10:20 AM  |  Bali

As many as 120 cartoonists from 43 countries will take part in an international cartoon exhibition at the third Sanur Village Festival (SVF), which runs from Aug. 6 until Aug. 10 in Sanur, Bali.

"This makes SVF the festival with the most international cartoonists involved," Putu Ebo, secretary-general of the Indonesian Cartoonists Association (Pakarti), said Monday.

The cartoonists are coming from countries around the world, including Australia, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Armenia, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Iran, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Macedonia, Malaysia, China, Myanmar and Morocco.

Putu said the event that had previously claimed the greatest number of international cartoonists was the 1987 Canda Laga Manca Negara cartoon exhibition in Semarang, Central Java, in which cartoonists from 37 countries took part.

He said he hoped the event could shed light on how humans have made the earth so horrible and "unfunny".

"With pictures as the main medium of communication, we hope that this message, of the earth's actual condition, will come across more clearly," Putu said.

Prominent cartoonists whose works will be on display at the festival include Glen Levievre of Australia and Jitet Koestana of Indonesia.

The event will also have the world's youngest professional cartoonist Manta Eduard, 13, and four female cartoonists, including Indonesia's Titik Dwi Hermawati.

Pakarti president Jango Pramartha said he expected the exhibition could create a sensation through cartoons.

The theme for the 2008 Sanur Village Festival was "going green". He said the cartoonists were expected to send the message on environmental awareness drawing on a variety of cultural perspectives.

"I hope we can send messages on this issue through the language of pictures so all of us can be ashamed of ourselves for damaging our planet and then start to take better care of it," Jango said.

I Ketut Rahmadiana, event consultant for the third SVF, said several environmental activities would be carried out during the five-day event including coral plantation and a turtle release.

"There are also cultural events and culinary and sporting activities," he said.

"The SVF is actually focusing more on cultural events because Sanur is one of the oldest tourism destinations in Bali."

He said the organizer tried to introduce a new theme every year without forgetting the festival's basic theme of "New Spirit of Heritage".

"We expect the event will attract more than 5,000 visitors, the number of guests recorded last year," he said.

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