Professor of Art and Art History Anne Harris speaks about
caricatures and their ties to politics.
MADISON DUDLEY / THE DEPAUW
“I love the idea that images are practicing in this moral space, that they go too far,” said DePauw professor of art and art history, Anne Harris, on Monday night in Watson Forum.
Harris, who has been absent from campus over this academic year because of sabbatical, came back to DePauw University to deliver a lecture to around 50 students and faculty and over 50 alumni who streamed the lecture as apart of DePauw’s Virtual Alumni College.
The presentation was titled, “Decoding Charlie Hebdo: The origins and cultural perceptions of caricature.” The lecture focused on the deadly shooting of the satirical French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, on Jan. 7 of this year. The magazine was targeted for their caricatures of the Islamic profit Mohammed.
The lecture was broken up into discussion on current issues of today, specifically Indiana Governor Mike Pence and the discussion and caricatures surrounding Indiana’s religious freedom law. Harris went into the history of caricature in France, a major defense in Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish their pictures, and ended with the history of Charlie Hebdo leading up to the attack an the worlds response.
Harris claims that there are three main characteristics of a caricature. The first being its limitation to time. They are only relevant for short periods, because the news changes so frequently. Second they are simultaneously referential and direct. Finally, they are provocative and emotional.
What matters is societies frame of reference, which Harris defines in multiple ways. She said “audiences decide what images are funny, whether they are true,” meaning that the frame of reference is something that is decided by the community as to what they chose to be appropriate or not. Caricatures are active in the public sphere.
Charlie Hebdo has had a long and controversial history with caricatures. Originating in the 70’s and then taking a break from the magazine stands for several years, Charlie Hebdo was revived in 1992 with a new set of rules and standards that the publication planed to live by. It would be radically left wing, atheist, anti-racist and similar to the majority of France, strongly secular.
They developed the unofficial saying of “Carlie Hebdo—We go after all religions” and has been repeatedly called out for being culturally offensive in their caricatures. Often times there is conflict between “freedom of the press and sensitivity of the frame of reference,” according to Harris.
There was noticeable sensitivity in the audience, as some of the images that Harris showed were troublesome. People were allowed to look away at any time.
Regardless of the serious tone, many left Watson happy with that they had learned. “I loved the lecture,” said junior Caitlin Qua. “I thought it was eye opening and it was great to hear Anne Harris talk again.”
The next Virtual Alumni College lecture is April 22 at 8 p.m. Andrew Cullison, ’01, the Director of the Prindle Institute for Ethics, will be speaking on Moral Knowledge and Moral Education.