Zapiro, the rest is still unwritten

They say a picture is worth a 1 000 words, and this couldn’t be more true than in the case of Jonathan Shapiro, better known as award-winning cartoonist Zapiro.

Residents from across Ekurhuleni recently flocked to St Dunstan’s College in Benoni for an engaging presentation by the political caricature cartoonist who is hailed by many as a South African icon.

In his talk Careful – This Pen is Loaded, Zapiro took the audience on a journey through his career.

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“I have always tried to speak to as broad a spectrum as possible with regard to age, gender and every kind of background,” he began.

“My own background? Well, my pen was loaded from a young age.

“I believe we were all cartoonists when we started out.

“If you think about it we all started out drawing pictures that were rude and without boundary, which expressed exactly what we were thinking.

“Then somewhere along the line we get schooled into being a little less rude, and some of us just continue.

“That is what a cartoonist is, someone who speaks from the heart and sometimes points out things that are sometimes uncomfortable.”

After this explanation, Zapiro shared some early caricatures of his school teacher, which pulled a laugh from the gathered crowd.

Going to school in the midst of apartheid, Zapiro, who dreamed of being a cartoonist, didn’t think he would get the chance.

“I knew I wanted to be a cartoonist, but studied architecture,” he explained.

“I went through architecture school learning a lot about drawing, which I loved, but also feeling I really wasn’t an architect.

“I satirised the head of the school, which brought me more attention than anything I ever did architecturally.

“During my fourth year of studying, my practical year, I went travelling – as they ask you to do if you can.

“I decided to meet some cartoonists and met Albert Uderzo, who does Asterix.

“I rang his door bell, unannounced at 11pm as I had got lost in Paris, and he was so kind to me and invited me in.

“And through his daughter, who was studying English, we spoke because he didn’t speak a word of English.

“It really is amazing when I think back on it and it was one of the reasons I was going to give up architecture come hell or high water.”

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Zapiro then took the audience through the highs and lows of his career, as he portrayed the good, the bad and the ugly of life in South Africa.

During his career, he has worked for publications like Sunday Times and Mail and Guardian and he now works at Daily Maverick.

But Zapiro said he does not only draw what he sees happening in South Africa, but abroad as well.

“I draw what I see,” he said.

The icon also shared his admiration for the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and late statesman Nelson Mandela, both of whom he has created cartoons and sculptures of.

The talk ended with a question and answer session with the audience.

Thereafter, there was a book signing.

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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za or Ashley Kiley (Journalist) ashleyk@caxton.co.za.

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