Behind the Lines: political cartoons help make sense of 2020

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If there’s a year that’s gone to the dogs, it’s 2020.
There are plenty of ways to describe it, using words that rhyme with ‘ducked’ and ‘chewed’, but the theme of MoAD’s Behind the Lines 2020 exhibition is more evocative….’a dog’s breakfast’.
I chatted to MoAD curator Holly Williams recently about putting together a retrospective of political cartoons in such a difficult year.
Full disclosure, Holly and I are friends and worked together at MoAD until recently, so for the first few minutes of our interview, I tell her about my elderly Jack Russel.
Holly humours with me and then confides that every time she mentions the theme to a dog owner, they focus on the canine element and want to talk about their pooches.
“Even though a ‘dog’s breakfast’ is such a good word for ‘mess’, it’s really lovely that people are finding other meanings,” Holly says.
“We didn’t want people to be depressed when they looked back over the events depicted in political cartoons, so the dog part is a bit of a winner.”
Adding to that sense are the delightful graphics that surround the 104 framed cartoons on display.
Visitors will be charmed by the Bichon Frise with a fluffy fur halo of coronavirus. This little ‘COVID pup’ was created by MoAD’s 2020 Political Cartoonist of the Year, Cathy Wilcox, for Behind the Lines and naturally, I want to know if it’s based on a real-life dog.
“It’s entirely from Cathy’s imagination but she also drew images we’ve used of her own dog, Tilly, who’s also featured in the video about Cathy’s work within the exhibition,” Holly explains.
As Political Cartoonist of the Year, Cathy’s work is well represented throughout the exhibition. “She has a very powerful piece called ‘The New Casual’, that sums up how a casualised workforce has affected our aged-care system.”
I tell Holly I misread this at first glance, thinking it was referring to how casual we’ve all become working from home. It was as I looked closer that I saw the full meaning and commentary on aged care.
“Cartoons can cut to the heart of an issue in a quick and simple way. Cathy does that in a single panel and tells an entire story,” Holly says.

The New Casual by Cathy Wilcox. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July, 2020.
The Political Cartoonist of the Year was chosen by MoAD and a panel of experts, including renowned immunologist and Noble Prize winner, Professor Peter Doherty. Professor Doherty became the hero we needed in April when he inadvertently tweeted his search for Dan Murphy’s opening hours to his 60,000 followers.
“He was delighted to be part of the judging panel, and he was a great choice for many reasons, not just his unexpected celebrity. The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity is so closely involved in the response to COVID, and when he was the Australian of the Year in 1997 he was the subject of many political cartoons, so he knows what it’s like to be depicted.
“Many of the cartoons this year show the multiple crisis we’ve faced and overlap issues, which is something new that I’ve seen. The exhibition this year also shows how political cartoons are being created in new ways, for the first time we have an animated GIF series by Glen Le Lievre. We have 36 artists on display and some cartoons are also sourced directly from artists’ own channels. Many are publishing outside of the traditional print media, showing how cartooning is evolving.”
Knowing the time it takes to curate the annual Behind The Lines exhibition, I’m curious about the cut-off point for including up to the minute cartoons. A Cathy Wilcox cartoon about the US election was published on 4 November 2020, just a few weeks ago.
“We held off the final selection as long as we could. We wanted to include references to the federal budget, which was pushed back from May to September. Then there was the US election, and at one point it looked like the outcome wouldn’t be known for a while, but really that level of uncertainty is fitting for 2020 isn’t it?” Holly laughs.
As we agree it’s certainly not the year either of us expected, I tell Holly the Bichon Frise drawing with its halo of hair expresses how many of us missed our hairdressers for months on end. Does she have any COVID hair tips to offer? “I’ve been cutting my own hair at home throughout the year,” she admits. “And I have to say it’s very handy to have a partner who can tidy up the back.”
It’s a good thing we can laugh at 2020 now and then. Behind the Lines is just what we need right now.
THE ESSENTIALS
What: Behind the Lines 2020
When: Showing until November 2021. MoAD is open all year, except for Christmas Day.
Where: Museum of Australian Democracy, King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Cost: Entry to the museum is free
More information: behindthelines.moadoph.gov.au
Feature image: Corona Parliament by Chris Downes. Hobart Mercury, 25 August 2020.