Makmun MPd, the Virtual Arts Education lecturer of Universitas Muhammadiyah (Unismuh) Makassar, regained a prideful accomplishment. In three weeks of Ramadan, he had achieved four International recognitions. These four achievements added his total recognition to over 20 international achievements since 2020.
The achievements, first, he collected from the designer association in Catalunya, Spanyol for his involvement in a two-year exhibition related to COVID-19. It collaborated with UNESCO. The second recognition is Semarang International Cartoon Exhibition (SICE) 2022. In this contest, Makmun succeeded joining the big 100 of best cartoonists among 2600 cartoonists who competed. The third achievement is the First International Caricature Contest in Egypt also followed by all people around the world. The fourth, he became the selected cartoonist in the Babad.id Cartoon Exhibition with the theme “Wayang as Nation’s Masterpiece” followed by all nations globally.
This Magister Alumni of Universitas Negeri Makassar mentioned Ramadan not only to enhance the acts of worship but also to provide positive energy and creativity. “Usually, I draw after teaching classes. It turns out that I created several cartoons before taking iftar,” he said. He also continued that fasting and cartoon arts have similar aspects in strengthening spirituality. This spirituality could provide various values in daily phenomena so the religion and arts could portray different perspectives in everyday life.
Generally, Amoeng (Makmun’s nickname) created his artworks to express and raise equity by criticizing the oppressor humorously. Various international competitions followed by Amoeng usually raised global issues, but the event organizers searched for art workers from different perspectives.
“The creativity of visualizing ideas is the main thing. Primarily, I raised the theme expressing the oppressed and triggering empathy in my artworks. I tried to illustrate the worst phenomena in social, economic, politic, humanity, environment, and many other issues,” he said.
