In a telephonic interview with Zapiro, Nicola Poulos asks him about controversy, and the creative process.
In a telephonic interview with Zapiro, Nicola Poulos asks him about controversy, and the creative process.
If anything was needed to bring home the power of the image to cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, being sued for R7 million by the President would probably do it.
But Zapiro, as the political cartoonist signs his work, had realised that power decades ago, under a different political regime.
Armed with a lead pole in the 1980s, when he refused to carry a gun as a conscripted soldier in the South African Defence Force, he came to realise the potential of his drawings to express more than words.
The laughing stock of camp, he fought back with satire.
“That’s when I knew I was an activist.”
It was the reaction to an early cartoon satirising the head of UCT's school of architecture where he was enrolled that ignited his faith in his cartooning. He gave up his architecture studies in order to turn to activism and cartooning.
Apartheid is no longer Zapiro's target, but he finds enough material to produce at least four satirical cartoons a week for three publications – the Times, the Sunday Times, and the Mail and Guardian.
His driving force, he says, is “moral outrage”.
In trying to maintain the balance between accuracy, quality and meeting deadlines, without getting into trouble with the law, Zapiro said he always asks himself, “is it necessary?” and “can we justify it?”
When making definitive judgements on whether or not to pursue contentious ideas, he asks “will the good that this cartoon can bring outweigh the negative?”
He admitted to regretting a few of the cartoons he has published, but surprisingly not the ones that blew up in the media after law suits and court cases. There is one in particular that he cannot bare to look at, even now, admitting it was too “graphic”.
Regardless of receiving a number of death threats, Zapiro explained that he is never afraid of the response he will get or the potential trouble he may cause.
His cartoons are skilfully and carefully crafted, in collaboration with his editors. He expressed his gratitude to the media organisations for which he produces content for their unwavering support in backing him up morally and monetarily when it comes to lawsuits and the like.
For their own interests, as well as his and for the sake of freedom of expression, the media groups that publish his work take responsibility for the potential legal repercussions of his political satire.
“Its strange,” he said, “in a democracy, to have your president file back to back lawsuits against you,” referring to the approximate R7 million President Jacob Zuma attempted to sue him for.
Integrity, authenticity, accuracy and tradition are integral to Zapiro's creative process, he says. Beginning each day listening to the radio news and scanning the newspaper for scoops, whilst attending to routine family matters, ideas start to tick through his mind. He turns to the web for more material, contacting his connections in the know when necessary.
He insists on keeping originals of his artwork and thus works on a tangible scale, moving from sketches to ink and only then to digital.
He exclaimed that too many new-aged cartoonists are working straight onto their tablets and computers, which is not his style.
Alongside producing cartoons, Zapiro is involved in educational and motivational speaking. His advice for young aspiring cartoonists is to put as much time into practising your drawing as you do your reading.
To read is to learn and to expand your knowledge, which will in turn grow your drawing, he said. Shapiro speaks of three ways to draw.
“Draw from life, from your mind and copy,” he explained. He emphasised that there is much to learn from copying the drawing styles of others, but affirmed that to only copy is to limit your own growth and development as a cartoonist and artist.
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