Cartoons by Judy Horacek

About Judy Horacek

Judy Horacek was born in 1961. In 1991, she completed a degree at the University of Melbourne, majoring in fine arts and English. She later studied museum studies at Victoria University in 2007, and print media and drawing at the Australian National University School of Art.

A black and white portrait photo of a young, freckle faced, smiling woman with very short, wild, fair hair, holding a book open.

Virginia Wallace-Crabbe, Portrait of Judy Horacek, cartoonist, 1997, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136400722

Horacek is one of Australia’s most popular cartoonists. Her work has been published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and various journals. It also appears on ceramic pieces, tea towels, greeting cards and fridge magnets.

Many of Horacek’s cartoons focus on feminist themes, including:

women in the workplace
women and politics
women’s roles in society

Her signature spiky-haired characters reflect her views on how the world works—and how it might be improved with fairness and humour. These strong, witty characters often deliver punchy one-liners and political commentary.

'My characters are a bit like everywomen. They are braver, sassier, larger than I am—with a rapier-like wit. One can’t help but admire them.'

Judy Horacek

Themes in Horacek’s work include:

feminism
criticism of conservatism
distrust of government and institutions
interactions with technology
working life and career
environmentalism
Indigenous rights and issues
civil rights

What is a cartoon?

The term 'cartoon' is from the Italian cartone, meaning paper. In the Middle Ages, it was used to refer to sketches that had been drawn for larger works, such as canvases, frescos, tapestries or mosaics. From the nineteenth century, a cartoon came to mean an amusing illustration in newspapers, magazines or online.

Australia has a strong history of political cartooning. Tasmania's Cornwall Chronicle was the first Australian newspaper to feature political cartoons, in 1835. South Australia's Adelaide Month Almanac and Victoria's Melbourne Punch began publishing cartoons in 1850 and 1855, respectively. Soon after, most state capitals began publishing cartoons.

Since then, artists have been expressing their perspectives and providing witty, satirical and comical commentary on politics, sport, celebrities and current affairs. Cartoons often have the ability to express a political issue in a way that just text can't do. A picture really can be worth 1,000 words.

These activities encourage students to think about the place that cartoons have in our society. They also introduce some of the broader concepts that Horacek deals within her work and then explore examples from the National Library's collection.

Learning activities

Activity 1: Cartoons have meaning

Ask students where they might find examples of cartoons (newspapers, magazines, online) and what purpose they serve (to illuminate political or social issues, to entertain us/make us laugh, to express an opinion/point of view).

To help introduce themes covered in Horacek's work, create categories and discuss with the group the category to which each of the cartoons belongs. Categories could include:

feminism
Aboriginal/Indigenous rights
civil rights
environment
work/life balance

Ask the class to identify any other themes in the cartoons presented.

Judy Horeck - Cartoons: Trove Extended Resources List

Feminism

Horacek is often described as a feminist cartoonist. After noticing a lack of females in the cartoons she was reading while growing up, she made the decision early in her career to place female characters in her cartoons.

I was born in 1961 and I remember seeing women protesting on the television and in the newspapers from when I was quite young. Marches and rallies, the controversy over Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch. I wasn't old enough to do anything much except swallow the media's line - that these women were aggressive and out of control, that women's libbers (as feminists were then known) were people to be avoided. Of course I believed that women should receive the same pay for the same work and be allowed to keep working after marriage, and reproductive freedom and access to childcare seemed like good ideas, but did they have to be so unfeminine about it? (After forty years, and even though women's issues are now firmly on the mainstream agenda, the media is still running the same line.)

Judy Horacek and National Museum of Australia, I Am Woman, Hear Me Draw: Cartoons from the Pen of Judy Horacek. Canberra: National Museum of Australia, 2002, pp.9, 11

A cartoon showing 2 women back to back at their computer's with one saying 'What's the difference between being assertive and being aggressive?' the other turns and replies 'your gender'.

Judy Horacek, What's the difference between being assertive & aggressive?, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148723203

A cartoon showing a yard with a sand pit and 6 human toddlers, an alien toddler and a teacher, overseen by an alien in a spaceship saying 'I wish I could get her into childcare closer to home'.

Judy Horacek, Childcare closer to home, 1995, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148725155

A cartoon showing a man seated at a desk in a boardroom chair across from a woman in a low back chair. The man says 'But you're a woman' and the woman says 'We can't all be dinosaurs'.

Judy Horacek, But you're a woman, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148723108

Discussion questions:

Who are these cartoons talking about?
What issues are they raising? (for example, childcare, gender bias)
Which characters do you relate to or disagree with?
What do you think Horacek’s point of view is?
What does feminism mean?
Is feminism still important today? Why or why not?

Environment

Horacek is a passionate environmentalist. In her book If You Can’t Stand the Heat, many cartoons focus on the urgency of climate change and its unequal impacts.

A cartoon designed as a postcard Titled 'Greetings from Kakadu, Nature's wonderland' with a crocodile nesting on what looks like radioactive coal next to a river of yellow/green water. Two people in hazmat suits , one with a camera bag taking a photo, the other with a floral hand bag pointing at the crocodile.

Judy Horacek, Greetings from Kakadu, nature's wonderland, 1996, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148726809

A cartoon series of 3 drawings 1. Two men are looking at a snow globe in one of the men's hands. One asks 'What's that?' The other says 'It's a souvenir of Australia's old growth forests'. 2. A hand is shaking the snow globe, with the words 'shake, shake. shake' 3. The first man says 'They're funny looking snow-flakes', the other says 'They're woodchips. Aren't the tree stumps realistic?'.

Judy Horacek, Souvenir of Australia's old growth forests, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148723754

The issue of climate change is to me, and to many people, the most vital and urgent one facing our age. Quite a lot of the cartoons in this collection reflect this concern, and the related concern about the way global warming is having the severest consequences, not in the countries most responsible for causing it, but in the developing world, where people have so little already.

It is alarming that the uranium industry sees climate change as an opportunity to rear its ugly head and present itself as green.

Judy Horacek, If You Can't Stand the Heat (Carlton North), Vic.: Scribe Publications, 2010

Cartoonists frequently express their personal perspectives on political issues through their visual texts. Often, they use humour to talk about serious subjects and to make these subjects more accessible to an audience. Humour can be a tool for creating persuasive texts designed to influence the viewers’ opinions.

When using cartoons to persuade, the creators must think about the audience, what reaction they want from the audience and how they are going to achieve that reaction.

Discussion questions:

What’s the common theme in these cartoons?
What specific environmental issues are highlighted? (for example, pollution, deforestation)
Are the cartoons humorous, serious or both?
What reaction do you think Horacek wants from the audience?

Indigenous/Civil rights

A cartoon showing a judge in a white wig and black gown, at the bench, looking down at a black person asking 'How do you plead - black or white?'

Judy Horacek, How do you plead, black or white?, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148724255

A cartoon showing a black woman looking up at a judge, at the bench, saying 'Just how much more evidence of traditional ownership will you require?' The judge, dressed in a white wig and black gown, looks down at her and says 'The law of Finders Keepers can't just be overturned on a whim, young lady'.

Judy Horacek, Just how much more evidence of traditional ownership will you require? The law of finders keepers can't just be overturned, 1995, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148724957

A cartoon showing a black man looking up at a judge at the bench, saying 'We want our land back.' The judge in a white wig and balck gown is looking down at the man saying 'Do you promise to be good?'.

Judy Horacek, We want our land back, 1995, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148725052

A cartoon with 2 black people on the shore, one holding a spear upright next to him says 'Look at all that luggage - guns, rabbits, smallpox, the British legal system', the other, looking out at a British flagged ship, person in a rowboat, and two men lugging a chest on the beach, says 'Hmm... they might be staying a bit longer than we thought'.

Judy Horacek, Look at all that luggage - guns, rabbits, smallpox, the British legal system, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148723300

Cartoonists often use cartoons as a way to share their perspective on social issues, such as civil rights.

Discussion questions:

What are the major themes of these four cartoons? (colonialism, racial prejudice/racial bias)
The cartoons are set in different time periods (1700s and contemporary). What do these cartoons tell you about Horacek’s perspective on racism? Does she think that race-based discrimination is still an issue today?
Do you agree with Horacek’s perspective? Why/why not?

Concluding activities

Activity 2: What’s the cartoonist really saying?

Ask students to think about all of Horacek's nine cartoons presented in this module and then lead a class discussion:

What do the cartoons tell us about Horacek's perspective on the issues she has focused on?
What factors might contribute to these opinions? (Think about gender, age, location, current political climate and so on.)
Would the cartoons be the same if Judy Horacek were born as a man in 1918?

Activity 3: Make your own cartoon

Have students create a cartoon that expresses their perspective on an important subject. It can be one of the topics covered in this module or a completely different theme.

Activity 4: Compare other cartoonists

Have students explore the to find cartoons by other artists, they can search the National Library catalogue.

What issues do they focus on?
Do they have a similar or different perspective to Judy Horacek?
What do their cartoons make you think or feel?

What can we help you find?