Background
Anton Kannemeyer was born on October 30, in Cape Town.
( Showcasing the brilliant and controversial existence of...)
Showcasing the brilliant and controversial existence of one of the world’s most famous political comix” magazines, this anthology exhibits the wide range of published material including covers, postcards, posters, and drawings from the creators’ personal sketchbooks. The collection is a testament to the contentious history of Bitterkomix and its attacks on the Afrikaner culture and language, branching into its biting criticisms on South African society itself. Undeniably brilliant and often outrageous, the art content from Bitterkomix is interspersed with essays and articles by artists and poets, such as Antjie Krog and Ryk Hattingh. The resultant book is an essential chronicle, catalogue, and visual cornucopia of the work of the Bitterkomix artists and creators.
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Anton Kannemeyer was born on October 30, in Cape Town.
He studied graphic design and illustration at the University of Stellenbosch, and did a Master of Arts degree in illustration after graduating.
Kannemeyer was also a senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. Together with Conrad Botes, he co-founded the magazine Bitterkomix in 1992 and has become revered for its subversive stance and dark humor. He has been criticized for making use of "offensive, racist imagery".
Kannemeyer himself said that he gets "lots of hate mail from white Afrikaners".
“X is for Xenophobia”, part of his "Alphabet of Democracy", depicts Ernesto Nhamwavane, a Mozambican immigrant who was burnt alive in Johannesburg in 2008. Some of Kannemeyer"s works deal with the issues of race relations and colonialism, by appropriating the style of Hergé’s comics, namely from Tintin in the Congo.
In "Pappa in Afrika", Tintin becomes a white African, depicted either as a white liberal or as a racist white imperialist in Africa. In this stereotyped satire, the whites are superior, literate and civilised, and the blacks are savage and dumb.
In "Peekaboo", a large acrylic work, the white African is jumping up in alarm as a black man figure pokes his head out of the jungle shouting an innocuous "peekaboo!" A cartoon called "The Liberals" has been interpreted as an attack on white fear, bigotry and political correctness: a group of anonymous black people (who look like golliwogs) are about to rape a white lady, who calls her attackers “historically disadvantaged men”.
( Showcasing the brilliant and controversial existence of...)