“I showed the inhumane treatment of Syrian refugees by European Union, the lack of human understanding, in contrast with the theme of the festival which was the global understanding, to criticize the global understanding,” said the Iranian cartoonist, Mahboobeh Pakdel, who won the grand prize of the 18th edition of Portocartoon World Festival, organized by the Portuguese National Museum of the Press in April 2016, in her interview with Mehr News Agency.
She told us that she submitted two works to the jury of the festival, one on the theme of 'the global understanding' which was awarded the grand prize and the other, which was appreciated by the jury, on the free theme section of the event.
“The jury liked my critique of ‘the global understanding’, and of course, immigration is a hot topic of today,” she asserted.
Praising the way the organizers of the event run the festival and showcase the city elements made according to the winning works of the previous editions of the festival all across the streets of the city, she approved of the measure saying that artistic works are rooted in society and people.
“They try to attract people via the words of cartoon, which is an enigmatic discourse, to make people think,” she said underlining that when the audience deciphers the work and find the answer of the enigma, he/she gets impressed.
“It both improves the visual quality of the city and enhances artistic understanding of the people of the city,” she commented on the project adding that, “now Portu has got a lot of art elements across the city which are inspired by the works of winners of the festival.
She described the medium of cartoon as a strong artistic medium to convey messages and boasted that she would have studied the same major if she had been sent back to the past. Pakdel called the art of cartoon as an international language enabling people across the world to communicate without translation, “anybody with any nationality can understand a cartoon and receive the message of the work.”
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