Читать книгу Paper. Pen. Pandemic. - Группа авторов - Страница 6

A virus, with a diameter far smaller than one ten-thousandth of a millimeter. And yet thanks to its extremely infectious, initially unpredictable and sometimes lethal nature, it has grabbed center stage the world over.

Amidst all the sick madness are the observers, with their knack of spotting the essence of things, and their gift for reproducing it in pictures. They do not report, do not explain, and do not moralize.

Cartoonists scratch away at the surface of events with their pens to expose the underlying issues. Their perspectives bring other, unexpected facets of a subject to light, giving the beholder greater insight, and encouraging him to “think outside the box”.

As well as examining the peculiarities of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the “new normality” in times of crisis, the artists have taken a critical look at the astonishing ways in which people have dealt both with this insidious disease itself, and with various absurd proposals on how to combat it.

What these free thinkers among the commentators on world affairs have produced is every bit as diverse as their visual languages and the senses of humor of their respective cultural groups.

Over 400 works by more than 100 cartoonists in over 50 countries on all continents are collated in this book, which surely also offers a glimmer of hope in these surreal times – because as long as we can still laugh about a threat, it certainly can’t have killed us.