

The Oslo Freedom Forum is no ordinary conference. For one week every year, human rights advocates, artists, tech entrepreneurs, and world leaders meet to share their stories and brainstorm ways to expand freedom and unleash human potential across the globe. This year in May, the eighth gathering in Oslo, Norway, Liza was invited to curate an international exhibit of cartoons to be shown at the Forum.
The speakers came from all over the globe. Many had risked their lives (and continue to do so) for the cause of freedom of speech, to help their country, to battle dictators and corrupt governments. Many are individuals who dedicate their lives to helping activist and artists battle oppressive regimes, many are creators of non-profits whose mission is to change cultural stereotypes.
To see some of the videos of the speakers, and learn more about Oslo Freedom Forum, go to their website, follow them on twitter or Facebook.
Liza live-drew all the speakers.
I love drawing cartoons of all sorts: silly, wacky, mysterious, introspective, fun, cultural, political, single panel, multi-panel, titled, caption-less, captioned. There are so many ways to go. The New Yorker has published many of them for over 20 years, some of them political. I also draw a political cartoon for Medium.com every Monday. Most every week, I create one that is about women’s rights around the world. Below is part of this week’s cartoon, which I drew with International Women’s Day in mind. I think about that subject just about every week.
This image was inspired when I read about a rapist in India who said his victim deserved it. He is in jail, to be killed by the government. He was found guilty; but the culture is guilty for perpetuating these perceptions, and I don’t mean just Indian culture. Ours is guilty of fostering tragically wrongful perceptions of others, too. To see more of this cartoon, and my others, click here. 