This Comic Artist Reveals What’s Wrong With Our Modern Society, And Here Are Her 30 Best Works
Interview With ArtistBesides being a source of entertainment, art can also be a powerful tool used by its creator to educate their audience. The topics vary, but today we’d like to introduce you to a Dutch artist, the author of an inspirational and thought-provoking comic series. Maaike Hartjes is the creator behind a series discussing important issues such as racism, climate change, and women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights. Additionally, in her work, the artist likes to showcase funny and relatable topics like relationships.
Bored Panda contacted Maaike to find out more about her comics. We were interested in what inspired the artist to start creating her series in the first place. We learned that: “I’ve actually been drawing autobiographical comics since kindergarten, and always dreamed about becoming a professional comic artist.”
More info: Instagram | Facebook | maaikehartjes.nl
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❤️ You can be anyone and anything you want. You can love anyone you want. It’s your choice. Not theirs.❤️
I think I saw her at Costco last week demanding to speak to the manager...
Hartjes continued and told us that as she got older, her dream came true: “I’ve worked as a cartoonist and comic artist for magazines and newspapers and published several comic books. When the pandemic hit, I became very active on Instagram, making relatable and informative comics.”
As for the topic that became a major inspiration for the illustrator, Maaike mentioned: “Black Lives Matter inspired me to learn more about racism and from there I started drawing more about social issues besides relatable personal stuff.”
I get this alot. Yeah, yeah my parents are Chinese. I'm still Australian though!
The cartoon makes a good point regarding the inappropriateness of prodding into a perfect stranger’s history, and yet it‘s perfectly natural to be curious about people’s heritage. The question can however be posed in a much more tactful way and should be reserved for closer friends.
Dumb question, but would it be weird to ask where their heritage is from?
If you don't know the person, and the topic of ancestry hasn't come up at all, then yes.
Load More Replies...Companies fill the bags with nitrogen to keep the fresh and keep them from breaking!
I never understood the "not breaking" part. Wouldn't it be better to have more because then the chips can't move around as much and the impact would be less?
Load More Replies...We were wondering how the Dutch artist comes up with ideas for her new comics. We found out: “I get inspiration from my daily life and the news + internet. It often starts with something that makes me happy or upset. Then I start thinking of how I can pour those ideas and feelings into a comic or cartoon.”
*River flows in you plays (The piano one)*
Load More Replies...People foreign to the US learn both spellings (often "colour" in school, "color" from American cultural exports). Right-clicking on the artist's name under the post places her in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Maybe she's reproducing an American election poster for an international audience.
Load More Replies...Next, asked about some of her influences in the world of comedy and humor, Hartjes told us she doesn’t follow lots of funny content, but mostly accounts with beautiful art work or activist content. She said: “My latest inspiration is Joris Lechêne who has a lot of historical knowledge and makes really funny and interesting videos. He also deals wonderfully with backlash from trolls and racists.
I guess I'm not THAT old because I still care what people think about me.
I'm glad to see models with vitiligo and Downs Syndrome. Good on them!
I don't think that's really the case, but okay. More like an oversight that got fixed. But now it's contrived how diversity is used as a good-will token so brands can come off as being supportive of diversity, even though these brands knew a variety of people have always used their products with no scrutiny. It also doesn't change how the products are being made.
Come to Florida, they booed children on the Make A Wish Foundation float and the Nicholas Children's Hospital floats the holiday parades as well as NYC complaining about disabled kids as elves and Santa in a wheelchair.... Welcome to America.
"I also like the more activist comics of Sophie Labelle, she taught me a lot about transgender people, and Koreangry is unapologetically (but funny) angry about racism. @yesimhotinthis makes a lot of funny comics about her experiences as a Muslim woman. I admire how they mix activism with humor.”
yeah it is the same with telling a depressed person to cheer up, as if they haven't ever gotten that idea on their own and have already tried that. I also hate the "advice" to smile more. It is basically telling people to put on a mask that does not reflect what they feel, because it is more important how they look and what they do to other people.
When I empty a bag of candy I bury it under the visible rubbish in my paper basket.
Do you notice that none of the Trillion Dollar Corporations haven't even Spent 10 Cents toward Cleaning up The Earth.
In some cases, yes, there is a "reject all" button. Not nearly enough cases, though.
well in Europe it is a low that it should be just as easy to decline cookies as it is to accept them, so a circumvention like that what you delibrately ad "bumps" to direct the user to comply with what you want through exhaustion is illegal. However, such a pesky little detail as following the law does not seem to bother a lot of companies.
Sometimes I just copy and paste all its info onto a word doc instead of having to deal with the websites s**t
I loved this one, because that is how I felt after 28 years with my husband. I couldn't imagine wanting anyone else.
Yes. Just watch videos about things you don't like.
Load More Replies...Youtube thinks I'm interested in cars, wear makeup and have a baby. pfft. Good.
It's ok to get old.. if you are feeling old maybe you're one of the lucky ones that experience life.. 😁
I like that different generations have unique music that is new to the next gen. Makes discovering new music fun.
Research has shown that women are infantilized (seen as/treated like children) and so are people of color, so women of color have it twice as bad.. Racism sucks!! 🤬😢
Racism is so weird, since technically people with color were true natives and people who are white are immigrants. It’s just strange to me about how horrible racism is and how unfair it is.
Load More Replies...I had an american boyfriend when I was younger, he was living and working in Italy. We had an argument every single day we were together. We decided we could still be friends, and spent every weekend together, and now things were super. After sept 11, 2001, he has been sent back to US, and we are only facebook friends now. I miss my friend.
My sister's say that there are a bunch of white kids in their classes that have actually said the n-word, and HAVE NOT GOTTEN IN TROUBLE FOR IT! The teachers are really f*ckin dumb
Load More Replies...Hmm.. I think the girl on the left was trying to say she's not sure what to say anymore because anything could be considered racist or just offensive without you knowing that that trigger word is. Not about not being allowed to say the obvious, common-known racist words. For example, on BP someone accused me of being racist for using the term First Nations in reference to Canadian Indigenous peoples, which is an acceptable term that includes Metis and Inuit peoples. I don't think the person who chided back at me was from Canada, and may not understand the term as it's used in Canada. Even though I already knew it's a common and acceptable term in Canada, it made me double check with a Google search to see if anything changed. It hasn't. So, maybe where that person is from it's not okay to use First Nations. However, in the context of the post it was regarding Canadian Indigenous people. Of course, we also know it's better to just refer to people as their name.
Kid: do you know where my thing went Me trying to be goofy ahh: "monke" People: AHHH RAC!ST
In school if someone said e.g "My hair got dyed black," the boys would say "THAT'S RACIST!". So now the girls have to be careful of what they say 'round boys.🙄🙄
In the EU somewhere, probably Germany (I have no proof) a white girl was called passive-racist because the had rastafarian hair style. I can believe it, even w/o proof.
Zwarde Piet is a Dutch character who is traditionally the helper of saint Nick, he is portrayed at carnivals by by a white man in black face and is considered a racist depiction of Africans and people of African descent.
Load More Replies...This is spot on. “All this inclusion *nonsense* is so tiring..” Racist sexist ableist self own 🙄
Everything is "woke" where I live, "woke electric cars", "woke solar panels", "woke socialist communist car insurance companies", "woke buses and trains" ....
A lot of vocalists sound the same. It's hard to decipher who's who when you hear their music. Plus, there's a lot more collaborations, which makes it seem like more and more artists are sounding the same. I swear there's one woman who you always hear in pop music today. Same baby voice, rasp and heavily post-produced. Basically the music version of duck-face.
it did happen to me when I was barely 50 years old... of course I got a white beard (consequence of marriage I am sure, it was red before) but I still stand erect, damnit!
You should pay for all of your employees! If their so important, why don't you just pay them more?!
Well overdue for this experience. May it be a good year with new glasses.
I'm happy I can still afford a variety of food right now, and get it when I want. Relying on a food bank, although grateful it exists, sucks. You don't get much choice, at all, you have to book a monthly appointment, and what you get doesn't last long. But I know people who use food banks just because they don't want to spend the extra money on groceries, despite being able to afford it.
Inflation sucks. But being poor and there being a inflation to sucks even more
After valentines you could go and buy all of that discount chocolate!
We had a cat named Bilbo! Long-haired polydactyl tuxedo cat, and the most prolific hunter we ever had. Unfortunately, the name had already stuck when we realized that "he" was actually "she".
I have a male cat named Mabel. Same reason as yours but, also, names don't need to be gendered.
Load More Replies...Do you feel that your relationship is of less value because other experiences the same?
I don't think it's normal to give it much thought. This is totally influencer problems.
Load More Replies...Lol, I have a few friends on perpetual snooze. When they pop up again I like a few of their posts and then put them back on snooze.
And have better technique, creativity and more time, money and energy than you?
Coffee, spicy food and alcohol... these are a few of my favorite things!
i want jokes, songs, laught, tears and joy at my funerals, and get turn into a firework display !
There ARE tonetags, but nobody uses them because they're "too much effort." /lh /g
Load More Replies...LOL It's impossible for me to read tone in text and even something that's made to look good, the person on the other end could still be upset/disinterested and not want you to know it.
Stop Climate Change! (or at least switch to a more renewable energy source)
yea well in my pov ur mental energy is is at 0% but u still need energy so it starts draining your physical energy instead. Im just guessing
Unfortunately the kids are focusing too much on their mental health, and obsessing and self diagnosing. You can always have too much of a good thing.
It depends on the context. I always found the racist bits part of the character and era, and not in reference to modern day. It's a good method for critical thinking exercises. It's like saying you find a villain character to be so offensive you hate the whole story, ignoring the heroes and possibly a good moral to the story. Now, if the whole book's based on a general acceptance of racism, just for the sake of trying to be offensive and appease to racists, then that is a different story. (No pun intended on purpose) Regardless, history does repeat itself in different ways, using different terminologies. S****y people will just find other ways to be s****y people towards others. At least having the knowledge brings awareness and shame. js.
or reprint them in a small amount and keep them as study materials to understand how and why they are racists. Only by learning from previous mistakes and wrong-doings we can prevent such ideas to reappear.
They ARE history, and they CAN be reprinted, just without the racist bits
The socially awkward introvert in me feels so seen, and also unable to say she didn’t really love the haircut..
Yes! I'm on my period now and i'm glad the awareness exists, it's a pain!
Yeah, Israel shouldn't have been included at all. (spelling)
Palestine also committed genocide. They also killed every LGBTQ+ person they met, used human shields, lied about the death count, etc. (not saying anything, just pointing stuff out)
Load More Replies...Sometimes, it just seems easier to look in black and white then in actual colours
"The shoemaker's children never have any shoes" should not apply to a business trying to market itself. 🤦♀️
I have a terrible memory for names, so I know I’m doomed in remembering pronouns too. I need everyone to write their name and pronouns on their forehead, please.
There's a wonderful scene in one of the later seasons of Shameless, where everyone at the table's got different pronouns. I'll add a gender neutral one to my repertoire because why not, but I won't keep track of eight billion ve/hir/squo preferences. I'll be a lazy boomer аsshole if that's what you need to think of me. Edit: the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPEMn-CpzEI
Load More Replies...Which boys are they talking about? I'm not up to date with the news.
I have seen a really amazing gallery that used something like this! You could scan the art with an app, and it would start moving on your screen!
A NFT is like an art work online that you can sell right? I don't see what's so wrong with that
Yes but lots of controversy. The energy requirements of the blockchain and their use in fraud.
Load More Replies...Who's to say you have to choose between them? Both are equally good for you, and you CAN do both. Drink more water and educate yourself! Diet, and support! Quit smoking, and attend protests! Go to the gym and learn.
The art vs the artist- a real dilemma..😢 To listen or not to listen to the racist and conspiracy theorist Eric Clapton’s music, or Van Morrison’s, or Don McLean’s (I was such a McLean fan, so this hurts..)
I say separate the art from the artist. If we cancelled every novel, painting or work of art because the artist once said something racist or homophobic, there would be nothing left...
Load More Replies...Pro Hamas anti Israel anti semitic propaganda. Supposed to be funny? Disgusting
Pro Hamas anti Israel anti semitic propaganda. Supposed to be funny? Disgusting
