A glimpse of some of the best political cartoons for 2020

Cathy Wilcox in Canberra on Friday with "coronapuppy" her artwork to fit the theme of this year's Behind the Lines exhibition - 2020: a dog's breakfast. Picture: Matt Loxton

The Political Cartoonist of the year says she and her peers have a simple job: "We just call out the BS".

Cathy Wilcox, a much-loved cartoonist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, received the honour on Friday at the launch of the Behind the Lines: The year in political cartoons exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra. The theme of the exhibition is "2020: A dog's breakfast"

The New Casual, Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald, July 29, 2020. "Not surprisingly many cartoons in 2020 featured the grim reaper, this one stands out though. Wilcox has been so succinct here in a cartoon that is very simple but very powerful. She manages to draw in the whole issue of privatisation and workforce casualisation and still pull at the heartstrings," says curator HollyWilliams.

MoAD director Daryl Karp said it had been a year when "never have we needed our cartoonists so much". The disruptive and tumultuous events of 2020 - from bushfires to COVID-19 - had an enormous impact on ordinary Australians. Ms Karp invited visitors to make sense of "a dog of a year" through political cartoons.

"The cartoonists in this year's exhibition come from across the political spectrum yet each bring their own robust interrogation of the goings-on in Canberra and the rest of the country," she said.

"They also shed light on our own shock, fears, and human foibles as we grappled with a very tough year. A humble roll of toilet paper, for example won't look quite the same after Behind the Lines 2020.

"Nothing about 2020 has been 'business as usual'. Never has a free and accurate media seemed more important, and never have we needed our cartoonists so much."

Museum of Australian Democracy director, Daryl Karp says 2020 has been a year when people have needed the sharp eye of cartoonists more than ever. Picture: Matt Loxton, .

Ms Wilcox received the 2020 Political Cartoonist of the Year award for the sharp eye she cast over both sides of politics and the ways she captured the momentous events of the year, as seen through the eyes of ordinary people. She has been producing cartoons almost daily for The SMH since 1989 and for The Age since 1993.

"Cathy has pricked people's hearts with her take on events big and small, finding a poignant angle to the summer's bushfire and wildlife disaster and the COVID-centric humour with 'any excuse to leave the house,' " said Ms Karp.

Cathy Wilcox's "Any Excuse to Get out of the House"

Ms Wilcox said cartoonists "bring a kind of every person's view of what is happening in the news, which might help readers consolidate their own thoughts about issues".

"Cartoonists can act as a counter to the main flow of news, and always have an eye on what's happening on the side. We try to read between the lines of what's said by people in power, examine the threads of vested interest, and un-spin the message," she said.

"In short, we just call out the BS."

Behind the Lines 2020 comprises 104 cartoons from 36 cartoonists published by a range of media outlets. Trump, social distancing, panic buying, the devastating bushfires all get a guernsey.

A cartoon from the United States is included in the exhibition, with Bill Bramhall in the New York Daily News summing up the bushfires in Australia, half a world away. Digital cartoons are also included for the first time.

The exhibition's curator Holly Williams said the year's theme - "a dog's breakfast" - evoked the mess and chaos of the year while injecting a lightness into a survey of a very heavy year.

So Much for New Years Resolution to Quit Smoking, Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News, February 1 2020. "This is perhaps one of the rare times that Australia has made it into global cartoons in a big way. There were several outstanding cartoons published in Europe, the United States and even India dealing with Australia's bushfires. We were living through it but the rest of the world were too from afar and this cartoon captures that really well I think." Holly Williams, Curator

"So many of 2020's cartoons splice together multiple crises and events, such as Andrew Weston's Extreme Social Distancing. In a year like no other, cartoonists borrow a catchphrase here or a visual cue there and weave them, often quite beautifully, into piece of striking satire. It can still be quite jarring to see a Hawaiian shirt pattern from one crisis transform into a COVID-19 blob pattern," Ms Williams said.

MoAD's most popular exhibition, Behind the Lines celebrates the role contemporary political cartoons play in Australia's rich tradition of free speech and free expression.

Ms Karp said tens of thousands of people visited the exhibition each year, and was one of the main reasons people visited MOAD, along with touring Old Parliament House itself.

Extreme Social Distancing, Andrew Weldon, The Big Issue, May 3 2020. "Like so many of 2020's cartoons, this one by Weldon splices together multiple crises and events. He places the startling figures from the Closing the Gap Report 2020 against the backdrop of both the pandemic and America's Black Lives Matter protests. Around the world, experts are signalling that COVID-19 risks further entrenching povertyand disadvantage in vulnerable communities. His unconventional approach brings detailed statistics to a wider audience."

A new section in 2020, In Focus looks at how a significant issue has been covered by cartoonists over time. This year, Amy McGuire, a Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist, has curated a selection of cartoons on the annual Closing the Gap reports.

The Apocalypse Handicap, Andrew Dyson, The Sydney MorningHerald/The Age, March 4 2020. " 'Stop doing it. Its ridiculous. Its unAustralian, and it must stop' ,Prime Minister Scott Morrison scolded the nation in the face of Australia's panic buying frenzy. By August researchers had foundthat we led the world in pandemic-induced panic buying. As retailers imposed purchase limits in March, one local Twitter user responded: 'A restriction of 12 bottles of wine per person...? WTF?! That's not a restriction, that's a liver transplant!',"

The exhibition includes activities for all the family including dog drawing, a trail, and an interactive game inviting visitors to throw a ball into a dog bowl to find out what kind of year they've had.

Behind the Lines: the year in political cartoons 2020opens to the public on Saturday for 12 months. Open daily 9am to 5pm.