In the war that Russia is waging in Ukraine, its weapon is its pencil: the Ukrainian cartoonist Vladimir Kazanevsky, 72, had to go into exile in Slovakia in March, but he continues tirelessly to publish caricatures. His cartoons have been published in many newspapers and magazines around the world. He recently received the 2022 International Cartoonist Award, the Cartoonists Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award, from the Freedom Cartoonist Foundation.
“ From a mere cartoonist who hated propaganda, I myself turned into a propagandist after the start of the war », summarizes Vladimir Kazanevksy in the Parisian premises of the association cartooning for peace, of which he is a member. Conferences, press interviews, masterclass, inauguration of the exhibition where his works are exhibited at the cultural center of the Embassy of Ukraine (until December 18), the cartoonist has been very busy during his visit to the capital French, which he knows well for having lived there for a while in the 1990s, selling his caricatures in Montmartre to survive.
Born in 1950 in the Sumy region, in northern Ukraine, Vladimir Kazanevsky, a graduate of Kharkiv State University, specializing in “cosmic radio-physics” in the 1970s, only worked for a few years in this specialty, before starting to live from drawing and caricature. Over the course of his career, he has won over 500 awards worldwide.“ He’s a huge designer, as often designers in the East, who must have had great graphic art schools and even if he didn’t go to an art school, he has incredible graphic bases. Through him, we better understand his country and the struggle of the Ukrainians », confides his colleague and friend for more than 20 years, the cartoonist Plantu, founder of Cartooning for peace, the association which defends the freedom of expression of press cartoonists all over the world.
” Putin started bombing kyiv at the same time as Hitler »
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, in the early morning hours of February 24, Vladimir Kazanavesky was, as usual, at his desk, drawing a “quite innocent “. “ I immediately understood that it was warhe explainsbecause designer friends from several European countries and even from Russia had warned me shortly before “. After his state of shock and bewilderment, he remembers a Russian song from the Second World War: “ on June 22, at 4 a.m., kyiv was bombed, we were informed that the war had started “, which will inspire him a first caricature: “ I figured Putin started bombing Kyiv the same time as Hitler “. His design depicts the Russian President and Führer enveloped by the grim reaper in front of a map of the invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin with the red button of the nuclear weapon on his forehead, Vladimir Putin in a television from which streams of blood flow, Vladimir Putin and the reaper coming out of his skull: the cartoonist multiplies the drawings of the Russian president in recent months, a task that has cost him. “ It is very difficult for me, because he is the incarnation of the devil. When I draw Putin, I mainly emphasize his eyes, deep-set eyes, close together, wolf eyes that stare at you as if coming out of a KGB black hole. When I draw it, it’s painful for me and when I’m done, I feel really bad “, admits Vladimir Kazanevsky.
Red and black, the colors of war
Before the war, the artist produced very colorful caricatures and drawings. But when he and his wife fled to Slovakia in March, he only took two pencils in his backpack, one black and one red. “ I suddenly realized that it was no coincidence, because these two colors are the colors of war: the black of darkness and the red of blood. Since then, I haven’t changed my style and I’ve been drawing like this for almost a year “.
From his exile, Vladimir Kazanevsky continues to draw the sad news that shakes his homeland. “ My heart, my soul, my head, are always in Ukraine and my only wish is to help and above all to fight Russian propaganda “, he says. Since February 24, he has cut ties with Russian cartoonists who support the war, but still sometimes receives outraged comments from them about his cartoons. “ That means I hit the nail on the head “, he notes mischievously.
After the start of the Russian invasion of his country, Vladimir Kazanevsky, who had spoken Pushkin’s language all his life at home and at work, took up Ukrainian. It was his wife, of Russian origin, who suggested the idea to him on the morning of February 24. “ We no longer want to speak in the language of the occupier “, underlines the designer.
“ Heroes are not interesting for cartoonists »
Unlike the Soviet period, when he had to deal with KGB censors, Vladimir Kazanevsky says he has never been hindered in his work since the fall of the USSR. “ But I still have my own self-censorship, with my aesthetic and ethical standards “, he explains. Another limit: he criticizes neither the army nor the Ukrainian president. “ I criticized Zelensky a lot before the war, I published a lot of cartoons, but from the moment he made his speech, at the very beginning of the war, to say that he remained in Kiev and would fight until in victory, it has become a taboo subject for me. He had become a hero, but heroes are not interesting for cartoonists “.
Vladimir Kazanevsky claims to have already drawn the cartoon he will publish at the end of the war: Vladimir Putin, dressed as a prisoner in a cell, looking morose, with a chain, to which is attached a large Z-shaped stone , the letter that has become the symbol of this Russian military operation in Ukraine.
The exhibition of original drawings by Vladimir Kazanevsky and caricatures from around the world is being held until December 18 at the Cultural Center of the Embassy of Ukraine, 22 avenue de Messine, 75008 Paris.
► To read also: Ukraine: Odessa without electricity after an attack by Russian drones