Bitter Laughter 2017

Saturday, November 11, 2017, 3 - 7pm

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Join ViceVersa Magazine for “Bitter Laughter,” an annual event that analyses important issues affecting Latin America and Spain through the lens of art.

This year, Bitter Laughter will showcase the works of women cartoonists from those regions. They will explore sensitive subjects, such as gender inequality and freedom of speech, with a pinch of humor inherent in political satire and cartooning.

Join Rayma Suprani from Venezuela, Martha Barragán from México, Nani Mosquera from Colombia, Ana Von Rebeur from Argentina, and Flavita Banana from Spain.

This will be a unique opportunity to learn more about the work and experience of some of the boldest and most well-known female cartoonists from the region.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

Note: This event will be bilingual (Spanish & English).

Rayma Suprani - Venezuela

Rayma is a Venezuelan press cartoonist. For 19 years, she has published her cartoons in El Universal, one of Venezuela’s most important newspapers. In September 2014, she was fired from her job for publishing a cartoon portraying Hugo Chávez’s signature that criticized the health care system in Venezuela. After constant threats due to her cartoons, she was forced to leave the country and is now living in exile in the United States.

Rayma was awarded the Interamerican Society Press Prize (2005) and the Pedro Leon Zapata Prize as Venezuelan Best Cartoonist (2000, 2009). She is part of the organization Cartooning for Peace and gives conferences on the defense of human rights for the Freedom House organization and the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway.

Ana Von Rebeur - Argentina

Ana Von Rebeur has been an illustrator and cartoonist since 1986. Her cartoons denounce the situation of women throughout the world. She has been published in more than thirty newspapers and magazines in Argentina and Uruguay, such as Diario and La República. She has also been published in Spain, Iran and Bosnia. In Argentina, she is the President of the global organization FECO (Federation of Cartoonists Organization) and has published thirty humorous books.

Flavita Banana - Spain

Flavita Banana is a Spanish cartoonists that portraits “the uncomfortable”. With a simple stroke and a few words, she shows the irony behind sadness, everyday life, and conformity. Her characters, often women, force the viewer to face uncomfortable realities, provoking a bitter smile. She collaborates periodically with vignettes in various publications and in 2017, she published her first book “Las Cosas del Querer”.

Martha Barragán - Mexico

Better known as Mar, she is a Mexican cartoonist, designer, painter and writer. She loves working as a cartoonist because, as a woman, she can understand and interpret the world through humor much differently than her male colleagues (who are the overwhelming majority in this field). Cartoons are a powerful tool to communicate, and it’s important to use them to show women’s perspectives in the quest of achieving a more harmonious world.

Nani Mosquera - Colombia

Adriana Mosquera Soto, a.k.a. Nani, is a Spanish-Colombian biologist, cartoonist and author. From a feminine point of view, her cartoons deal with the news, economics, and social inequalities.

She has published 14 books that are sold throughout Ibero-America and her vignettes have illustrated books to teach Spanish around the world. She collaborates with the International Red Cross, in the fight against the abuse of women and has created multiple campaigns through Spain and Colombia to raise awareness against racism and discrimination. Her cartoons are currently part of a traveling exhibition of 50 female cartoonists, making female cartoonists visible in the world. She has exhibited her work in the most prestigious universities in Colombia, Spain, and Mexico, as well as the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá. In 2015, she was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Caricature in Mexico City. She is part of the organization Cartooning for Peace and is the Honorary Professor of Humor at the University of Alcalá de Henares (Spain, 1998). She has also won several international awards in Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Spain.

Co-Sponsored by ViceVersa Magazine, The Department of Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Cooper Union, The Consulate General of Spain in New York, Enriquez Estate Wines, Cappellini.

Located in the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, at 41 Cooper Square (on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets)

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.