A new call to participate in the already well-known International Biennial of Graphic Humor has been announced by the Circle of Humorists and Comic Writers of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (Upec) and the Museum of Humor of San Antonio de los Baños, with the co-sponsorship of the provincial directorate of Culture of Artemisa. It is the 22nd International Biennial of Graphic Humor, which will take place between April 11 and 14 of this year.

Jorge Legañoa Alonso, vice president of Upec and head of the Organizing Committee, according to the Cubaperiodistas website, explained that this edition will be held under the slogan "Humor brings us closer", which in his opinion is a timely invitation - in times of coronavirus - for the world's graphic humorists to build bridges of solidarity and humanism, given the necessary distancing measures and the face mask on to avoid contagion.

According to the digital site, the Biennial offers the possibility of competing with a free theme to all the graphic humorists of the world. In addition, the competition and theoretical sessions, which are traditionally held in galleries, museums and exhibition centers, will continue to be held, this time, mostly in the virtual scenario due to the requirements imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As usual, informed the president of the Biennial's Organizing Committee, a Grand Prize and prizes will be awarded in General Humor, Political Satire, Humorous Cartoon, Personal Caricature, Humorous Photography, and the Tomy Prize for Political Humor on the theme of Sovereignty, with the aim of rewarding the best exponents of the counter-hegemonic, anti-imperialist and leftist graphic discourse, and several institutions will award collateral prizes.

The original works should be sent, preferably, in digital format, with the signature and data of the author, to the electronic address indicated in the official call for entries of the event, in which technical requirements are specified.

This year's digital call seeks to surpass the participation of the previous edition, when 1,330 works of more than 500 authors from 55 countries were submitted, which speaks of the strength of the exhibition and also shows the growing prestige of the event among the cartoonists of the world.

The jury, said Legañoa Alonso, will be chaired by Cuban visual artist and cartoonist Aristides Hernandez Guerrero (Ares), winner of the 2020 National Humorism Award, and made up of experts and outstanding artists in the profession from the United States, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.

The official poster of the event -created by Dedeté humorist Carlos Alejandro Falcó Chang, FALCO- gathers all the conceptual elements of the contest which, as usual, will be a place for alternative graphic humorists of the world.

Finally, Cubaperiodistas informs that the 22nd Biennial will be dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the humorous publication P'alante, as well as to the six decades of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, the 90th anniversary of the outstanding creators Francisco Blanco Avila, Blanquito; and Virgilio Martinez, Virgilio; as well as the 110th anniversary of cartoonist Juan Eduardo David Posada, Juan David; and the 35th anniversary of the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Publishing House, which has played a leading role in the promotion of Cuban graphic humor.

(Taken from Granma Newspaper)

English version Hector Hdez.