Between The Squiggles
Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy started his schooling in Government Laboratory school and then went on to City College and then London Metropolitan University to major in Computer Science.
“After I finished studying at City College, I sent some of my work to Unmad to get a job there and continue with my passion of drawing, and when Ahsan Habib, legendary cartoonist and editor of Unmad, saw my sketches, he gave me the opportunity. I had no prior training before that,” says Tanmoy.
When Tanmoy was younger, he was very interested in art. “But painting and most other forms of fine art send very subtle messages. I realised that cartoons will help me directly pass on a message visually. Understanding abstract art is difficult, but understanding a cartoon is not. It is something that a child will understand and so will her parents, or something that a lawyer will understand and so will a tea vendor,” says Tanmoy.
Tanmoy also gained some experience at The Daily Star and then at The Daily Sun from there. Now, he is a full time editorial cartoonist in Dhaka Tribune, while still maintaining his job at Unmad at assistant editor. So far, Tanmoy has touched every field of cartooning and his worked ranges from satire, strip cartoons, political cartoons and comic books, to children books and cartoon shows on television. He is also working on a graphic novel.
In 2008, Tanmoy won a special award in the South Asian Cartoonist congress held in Nepal. In 2009, he was selected in the 16th visual art festival in Iran, and has also recently exhibited his work in the UK. This year, he had his first solo political cartoon exhibition in Edward M. Kennedy center. Recently, Tanmoy and fellow cartoonist, Sadatuddin Ahmed Amil held a political cartoon exhibition at the Nordic Club. “But my most interesting achievement so far has been quite recent. It wasn't anything I won. It was much bigger for me. Recently a minister had insulted journalists and upon hearing it, I drew a cartoon then and there and had it uploaded on our online version of the paper, before it came on print. Within 12 hours, that cartoon had become viral through out social media and the cartoon was used in banners that were used to protest against that minister! That was very exciting for me!” shares Tanmoy.
Even though Tanmoy believes that Bangladesh's history of political cartoon is very rich, he thinks the community is still very small. “For the future, I want to work on expanding the community and create an institution for cartoonists. We already have the Bangladeshi Cartoonist Association, but we still have very far to go with it. That is the dream I have for cartoonists. My dream for myself is to make more graphic novels where I can tell the stories of my city and my time.”
Comments