Indian cartoonist Ashok Adepal is all set to come to London for his art exhibition 'Hundred Cartoon Selfie.' The exhibition will be up from September 11 to 15 at the Cultural Wing of High Commission of India, Nehru Centre. Given the current trend of taking “selfies” on mobile phones, Adepal decided to create a series of cartoons themed Cartoon Selfie which have been up for display at art galleries in major Indian cities like Ahmedabad and Baroda.
The exhibition is a comic commentary on the new age obsession with the self image. While a cartoonist usually makes humorous and satirical representation of public personalities, Adepal drew his own image to laugh and mock. He also manages to present his reflections and thoughts on current events. Described as a potpourri of cartoons, Adepal's exhibition only relies on the singular character sans dialogue, prompting people to think and connect to ongoing events and issues. Each cartoon has its own title and cover mostly national and sometimes international subjects of discussion.
Recipient of the Kutch Shakti Award by Bruhad Mumbai Gujarati Samaj, 2010, Adepal was born in Tharad, Banaskantha to a refugee family that migrated to Gujarat from Sindh, Pakistan. He began his career as a political cartoonist 15 years ago, training himself to draw cartoons and developing his own style by studying the works of other cartoonists. His first work was published on the front page of regional newspaper Kutchmitra in September 2002. Adepal's political cartoons regularly appeared from 2013 to 2017, in the Ahmedabad edition of DNA. They have also appeared in various Indian regional newspapers and periodicals like Phoolchhab, Sambhav Metro, Divya Bhaskaw, Akila, Asian Age, Chitralekha, Abhiyan, and web news portal, Global Gujarat News (GGN).
