Judging by the competition’s theme, “Cosmopolitan,” the organizers’ idea was to unite people by means of humor. Kostiantyn Kazanchev, head of the board of directors of the nongovernmental Association of Cartoonists, organizer of the competition, explains: “A cosmopolitan is a person of the world. Obviously, who else but cartoonists from various countries are this kind of cosmopolitans? Offering their vision and humor, they bring us together.”
Kazanchev calls cosmopolitism “a somewhat unachievable dream.” For humankind is still to equalize the laws and conditions of existence throughout the world so that a person who moves from one country to another will only have to change the place of residence, not the way of life.
This year, 113 cartoonists from 31 countries took part in the competition – quite a large number, with due account of a difficult theme. Among the participants were authors from China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The jury selected 14 winners out of 329 cartoons.
The first prize went to the St. Petersburg-based cartoonist Andrey Popov. In his work, the lines of fate on the palm are drawn in the shape of Earth hemispheres. “This must be the way the thorny path to a civilized life looks like – through difficulties, wars, conquests, work, and corns. You can find all this in the winner’s work: “Earth as Fate.”
THE CARICATURE WHICH PLACED THIRD IN THE JURY VOTE. IT WAS CREATED BY KYIV-BASED ARTIST IHOR LUKIANCHENKO / Photo replica courtesy of Kostiantyn KAZANCHEV
Eight out of fourteen prize winners are Ukrainian. For example, the third prize went to the Kyivite Ihor Lukianchenko whose cartoon shows a man on stilts, who tries to walk among gray people who cling hard to their place in the world. “To surmount barriers and borders, you must rise above common thinking,” Kazanchev explains.
Kazanchev is now finishing to edit a catalog that will comprise the best 50 cartoons of this year’s competition. He also promises that these works will be displayed at a Kyiv exhibit later in November.
