Crisp, irreverent and political, visual artist Unnikrishna Menon Damodaran’s graphic art strip ‘Meanwhile in Kerala’, depicts different aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala in a single frame. Begun on March 9 on his Instagram account @unnikrishna, it is a satirical take on the way people navigate the problem.
Having worked in Bahrain for the last 27 years as a digital specialist for a multi-national payment company, UMD, as he calls himself, has cheeky takes on contemporary political and social life in Kerala. An alumnus of the College of Fine Arts, UMD calls himself a “designer and visual artist with a dissenting diction”. He blends typography, drawings and witticism in English and Malayalam.
Excerpts from an email interview with the artist…
How long have you been doing ‘Meanwhile in Kerala’ and why did you start this?
It all started with social media from 2008. Being a visual artist it is imperative to show the work you are creating. I started creating a verbal-visual expression of a single word in Malayalam that we often use in our daily life. Some struggled to read it, some ignored it, but I kept sharing it. I called it “strange word picture”. And it evolved over time.
Editorial friends of Malayalanadu Online Web Journal were interested in sharing my work on their website and I became committed to creating my dissenting visuals almost every week. I had developed the habit of watching the daily news after work and that motivated me to start creating an opinionated visual, very much in keeping with my graphic-visual literacy. But I have retained my strong interest and sense of visual elements and never compromised on it. No re-drawing and no reworking; all my work is just organic as it comes out. Initially, there was no reaction to my work. But I kept on doing it. Engage, ignore or do whatever you like was my policy and I am still on it.
I was (am still) reacting to Kerala’s political-cultural moments within the constraints of Instagram’s square boxes. No out-of-the {Instagram} box claims here! Visually very typographic and, at times, pun intended, reactions, responses and, rarely revolting, but dissenting comments on the eventful daily life of Malayalis in Kerala and across the world.
This live collection of graphic messages explores the daily life of Malayalis that engaged, altered or influenced the key moments created by Malayalis themselves!
Your recent ones are on the Malayali’s change in life because of the COVID-19 outbreak. How much time do you spend on it and what is it that motivates you to put this up?
As usual, we did not bother much and waited for it [Coronavirus] to reach Kerala. I was like that too as I was only focusing on issues in Kerala, and then came the news that about three people from Italy and their doings in Pathanamthitta. As COVID-19 is a contagious disease, I kept watching its spread across the world and how Malayalis were taking it.
As the news develops, I start with the headline and based on that my visual follows quite organically. I spend about two to three hours for a post as I do a lot of self-editing before it is posted. So sometimes, it may take more time.
Why do you call yourself ‘Designer of the Dissent’?
That is still my claim. We know how great designs successfully sell big fat lies and we also know the whole process of selling, branding and commodifying that all design usually is. The progressive power of political graphic design - especially in these times of dissent – is what provides a spark of consciousness of human life, social justice and struggle to the exercise.
However, first we must realise that designers are problem-solving professionals, not just people who make things look good and glamorous. It is our responsibility to question, challenge and communicate the problem and dissent, wherever necessary, to protect those freedoms and interests we value so much.
We create visual and verbal cultures that creates a resonance in others and that can only be achieved within a culture that welcomes dissent. But what is important is that ‘design dissent’ should be about improving situations as design should ultimately be about making things better and not spreading hate. So my claim as designer of the dissent is an ongoing process and it evolves as society changes.
Any plans of a book or an e-book for ‘Meanwhile in Kerala’?
Of course, I am waiting for a publisher. Proposals are welcome.
