Drawing the Line

7:30PM Thursday 15 January 2015 Bar21
An illustrated exploration of the history of controversial cartooning, and the story of it's relationship to free speech, by long time local pen dipper 'Polyp'.

[caption id="attachment_428" align="aligncenter" width="681"]http://www.polyp.org.uk You can see more of Polyp's cartoons at www.polyp.org.uk[/caption]

From Roman times through to last week's shocking revenge attack, cartoonists have always been the focus of outrage, censorship and conflict. What is it about this often trivialized art form that evokes such powerful reactions?

We'll be including a look at the surprisingly familiar history of the medium's conflict with Christianity and socially accepted moral consensus, and in the discussion afterwards we'll pull at the complex knot of what it means to be offensive. Is there a simple way to untie it?