At the opening of the Museum of Australian Democracy’s Behind the Lines exhibition this week, Sydney-based artist Glen Le Lievre was named Political Cartoonist of the Year.

Part of the online revolution taking the industry by storm, Le Lievre was the first artist to display a digital work at Behind the Lines in the 2020 exhibition.

He told Canberra Daily he was “surprised” but “humbled” by the honour, given the strength of competition this year. Eleven of his works feature in the Behind the Lines 2021 exhibition.

“It was a surprise, frankly, I’m quite used to dancing like no one is watching,” he said.

“Despite the circumstances, as you can see on the walls, a lot of artists cartooned out of their skin this year.”

Reflecting on the political chaos we’ve lived through lately, Le Lievre said it’s as if we’ve lived through a “two-year festival”.

“In 2020 we were almost a victim of circumstance; in 2021 we’re our own worst enemy,” he said. “The whole thing turned on its head, and as cartoonists, we have to capture that change.”

Le Lievre produces two works a week in either still or animated GIF format for an online audience via subscription platform Patreon. He has received praise for his innovative use of technology and entrepreneurial flair.

“It just provides a reason for artists to keep going when they’re too stubborn or too stupid to quit or have no actual alternative,” he smiled.

“It’s exactly the same for musicians, photographers, writers.”

For the past three years, Le Lievre started to animate some of his works, with the GIF format allowing him to execute ideas that are unworkable as stills.

“Occasionally you’ll look at a drawing and say ‘gee, this needs to move’, and in some cases you’ll have an idea that won’t work unless it can move,” he said.

“I try to restrict the animation to ideas where it’s entirely relevant; the idea is bound up in the needing to be animated.”

Behind the Lines 2021 looks to the future of political cartooning

Behind the Lines 2021 features works from nine new artists, of whom at least seven use Instagram or Twitter as their main platform of distribution.

As an established artist, Le Lievre said he has great respect for the emerging generation of political cartoonists, many of whom are utilising platforms like Patreon in lieu of secure work in the news media industry.

“The model for print dinosaurs like me used to be you’d find a publishing sugar daddy, and they’d pay you to suck for 10 years while you improve, and you get paid to do a couple of thousand bad cartoons while you get better,” he said.

“The kids don’t have that because they don’t have anyone to step in, the revenue isn’t there for publishers to step in and pay them to get better.”

“Based on my timeline, you need a couple of decades to get to a standard where you’re able to earn a living freelancing.”

He said the Behind the Lines 2021 theme of Prophecy and Chance is apt given a portion of the exhibition is highlighting and looking to the future of political cartooning.

“The future of cartooning needs friends like every other form of satire that holds the rich and powerful to account,” Le Lievre said.

“What they have is their passion to do what they’re doing, and even that only gets you so far.”

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