Gifted cartoonist, Paul Harris, is a ‘Special Person’

Mar 23, 2014 News

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“Follow your dreams. I don’t want to sound too clichéd. I like to march to my own beat. I set my own pace. I like at the end of the day, to know that what I produced, I did so on my own steam. I feel immense and great satisfaction with my work which has grown with the support of my family.”

By Leonard Gildarie

His creations have captivated readers/viewers for almost 30 years now, but relatively little is known of expert illustrator/cartoonist Paul Harris whose works in the local newspapers have evoked emotions ranging from laughter and admiration to anger and even in a few cases, condemnation. But one thing remains certain…there is a brilliance in his productions that will not easily

be duplicated anytime soon.
With very few of his kind around, Harris’s work has been so much in demand that the country’s three main newspapers – Kaieteur News, Stabroek News and the Guyana Chronicle – have had little choice but to turn to him… not easy when each prefers exclusivity.
At a time, in the 1980s when Guyana was facing tough times, Harris provided an outlet for humour, expertly making light of situations which by any stretch of the imagination would not have been considered laughable under any other circumstance.
A father of two, Paul’s humble beginnings were a lesson in the harsh realities of life which proved valuable in later days, as he translated it into little masterpieces.
Born in 1959, his early life was on Lombard Street, where business, riots of the 1960s, crime and prostitution provided an extraordinary, or more to the point, unforgettable mix.
Harris recalled days of tear gas with British soldiers patrolling the street and smoke from burning buildings.
He was the fourth of five children but his dad, Hawley, whose footsteps Paul would later follow, was a go-getter and the family managed to weather the tough times.

DELICATE POSITION
“Yes, it was difficult times due to the disturbances, but we were able to stay above it.”
But Harris’s skin colour and hair texture, placed him in a delicate position where he was viewed cautiously, as being neither Indian nor African, two “opposing” ethnicities during the unmemorable period. “Yes, I played cricket with the boys from the range homes, but it was a guarded kind of relationship.”
It was perhaps the experience there, though he was a little boy, that served him as he was introduced to how the ordinary citizens viewed the Government of the day.

At the St Mary’s Roman Catholic School on Brickdam, he was schooled on the importance of church, but young Paul did not always toe the line.
“Yeah I got into fights, too, and if there were 10, I would win one…and that was when the other guy did not turn up,” he said with a chuckle.
At the South Georgetown Government School, Harris delved into a range of interests including cricket, football and karate. He was also introduced to Art and Spanish. It was around that time that he fell in love with comics…Spiderman, yes that Superman.
“I would even imitate them. I loved the colour and the art.”
The family moved to Werk-en-Rust and there Harris grew more aware that there was some racial divide.
“I don’t know for what reason, I was categorized without asking for it. Not really Indian, not really African. I was called ‘dougla’ and all sort of things.”
His father soon decided to work on his own, making rubber stamps.
It was during this time that the younger Harris got his first whiff of cartoons. His father had started working at The Mirror, later ending up at the Chronicle and then the New Nation newspapers.
“He did not really take sides…He was not anything. He put bread on the table.”
Not allowed to help, Harris was drawn to the work. But his father was a territorial man, preferring to work on his own, and not “liking anyone looking over his shoulders. But I watched, and was drawn to it.”
The respect that his father got also made an impression on Paul.
He started sketching. It got to a point where he was sometimes viewed as silly.
“I drew everybody, from Dr. Cheddi Jagan to (Forbes) Burnham.”
His siblings were not interested in cartoons.
He managed to pass his GCEs, but the family at the time could not afford higher education. For awhile, Harris decided to “hang out”, experimenting with parties, and a little marijuana which only made him “hungry”.
But he was drawn again back to art and designing.

WEIRD PAUL
“There were all these images in my head. It was kind of worrying to my family and friends, some of whom thought I should be more interested in partying, taking my first drink. I was regarded as weird. I was just drawing everything – I wanted to draw.”
On one of his first jobs, Harris decided to try his hand in the ‘gold bush’.
“That was quite an adventure which did not last long. A mere two weeks.”
But the experience in the hinterland stayed on his mind. With restrictions on raw gold, at a security checkpoint, he was given a huge chunk to carry. Luckily for him, he was not caught.
“The big piles of money that the miners worked for and the way they blew it out, along with the robbing, only made me realize how hard mining really is.”
But Harris loved the sunrise and the raw beauty of the hinterland.

It was in 1983 that, hungry for a chance, he gained a toehold in the newspaper business. He was just 24.
“There was a competition by the Chronicle and my Dad asked me to do a cartoon.”
Harris made it to the last five and eventually won. His works would poke fun at family and friends. He was offered a chance to do a weekly strip in the newspaper.
It was two years later that ‘Justin Kunsorn’ was born. The cartoon, commenting on hardships faced by the common man, also poked fun at the administration. The cartoon soon became a three-time-per-week undertaking, and soon daily.
“People were looking for it…it helped to boost the newspaper.”
He had arrived. His cartoon was published alongside his father’s creation…called “A Little Soap”.
Soon, he was asked to do something similar for sports and ‘Sporting Courtney’ was born. But Harris’s love of art and design soon landed him in other areas.
On the side, he was selling newspapers and his father’s collections of cartoons.
Around 1987, he started working with Mashramani designers, alongside Bernard Ramsay.
“It was not difficult, but consisted of hard work. I made some money from it. It was all about art and sleepless nights.”
He worked with John Fernandes also, racing against time to reproduce designs which at first glance appeared impossible.
Harris loved the challenge, enjoying every minute of it. He also delved into sign painting.
It was in 1988, that he met his wife, Darlene, and “fell in love”. His two children, Daraul and Andrunie, were born a few years later.
It was a busy time for the young father. The Mashramani work was proving a demand on his time for cartoons. He also took on designing of greeting cards and invitations, sketching them by hand.
Stabroek News was on the scene by the late 1980s, but turned down applications from Harris who wanted to submit his pieces there. His father, Hawley, had been doing work for them.
In 1998, the cartoonist moved with family to England after an opportunity arose. There, he had an opportunity to attend classes in animation.
The family did not stay too long in England…just three years…and yearning to return home, grabbed the opportunity when his wife’s former employer, Beacon Foundation, re-employed her as its Manager.
On his return in 2001, Chronicle immediately took Harris back and the daily ‘Justin Kunsorn’ and ‘Sporting Courtney’ became a staple again.
His father, Hawley, also decided to throw in the towel on the cartoon business. He invited his son to apply to Stabroek News. David de Caires, the Editor-in-Chief, immediately took him on.
His children too were suggesting ideas for cartoons and even helped. In addition to the weekly cartoon in that newspaper, Harris also started doing cartoons for the Stabroek Business and the Stabroek Scene supplements.
Shortly before his death, Harris’s dad received a national award for his contributions.

CRITICISMS
And of course there have been criticisms.
In the early 2000s, one cartoon depicting a commentator asking a woman whether she would vote for a “black man”, sparked condemnation. It was even debated in the courts.
But Harris asserted the cartoon was never intended to be racial, but rather drew the parallel to what was happening in the US.
“I was labeled a racist. I have no political ambitions or convictions. I don’t take sides. I just depict what I view as the situation stemming from the shenanigans, red herrings and filibusters foisted upon an unsuspecting public, which is laughably referred to by our learned political fathers and mothers as in the interests of the people. I read the newspapers and I listen to the news and the people on the ground and I draw from them.”
Harris has now ventured into painting – the mural on the walls of the zoo and the cafeteria, an area traversed daily by scores, are examples of his range of talents.
Several thousand copies of his collections of cartoons, dating back to the 1980s have been sold.
Today, with his wife a teacher, Harris is hoping for his children to carry on the legacy, but it may be a tall order. His daughter is more interested in graphics, while his son is into gaming animations.
Harris’s work has also changed a little. Over the years, his sketches were all done by hand. Now he is using a mixture of manual and the computer which allows more manipulations.
“Follow your dreams. I don’t want to sound too clichéd. I like to march to my own beat. I set my own pace. I like at the end of the day, to know that what I produced, I did so on my own steam. I feel immense and great satisfaction with my work which has grown with the support of my family.”
Today, Harris’s home continues to be filled with comic books, a great love for his family, and he experiments more in the world of animation.
“Yes, I have sold some works of animations…though not for the monies I wanted.”
For his humour, creativity and sterling contributions, Paul Harris is indeed a special person.

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