Forty-five of Australia’s most respected political cartoonists feature in Behind the Lines' 2025 exhibition, Are We Rolling?
Behind the Lines is an annual exhibition of political cartooning. This year’s display is subtitled Are We Rolling? and it features the work of 45 of Australia’s most respected cartoonists. It launched at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra last December, and it’s now on display at The Old Treasury Building as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Behind the Lines is in its 30th year. Curator Matthew Jones believes the role of cartoonists hasn’t changed that much over the last three decades. “Political cartoons are arguably as important as they’ve ever been,” he says. But what has changed is how cartoons and illustrations are created and distributed.
Behind the Lines: Are We Rolling?
- The Old Treasury Building
- Until 3 May
- Entry is free
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“Most of the cartoonists appearing in Behind the Lines over the decades published their editorial and pocket cartoons, illustrations and caricatures in the major Australian daily newspapers,” Jones says. “In the 1990s they worked on paper with pens, pencils and brushes. Now the newsroom is more sparsely populated, and many cartoonists work from home, creating digitally on computers and tablets.”
We are now just as likely to see political cartoons online as in the pages of a broadsheet newspaper, whether they be embedded in a news website, found in a social media feed, or forwarded through a messaging app. “[Political cartoonists’] work now is arguably more accessible and therefore more likely to go viral and have a greater impact,” Jones says.
2025 was an incredibly active and divisive year in Australian politics. Political cartoons are able to offer critiques and insights that you won’t find in more conventional forms of journalism and reporting.
“An editorial cartoon is part visual satire and part visual editorial or opinion piece,” Jones says. “Some people engage with and learn from pictures more than words, and vice versa. Political cartoons are images and therefore present a different way for Australians to engage with the news and ideas of the day.”
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Behind the Lines is intended as a showcase for the year’s best political cartoons. Many factors are considered when assessing what makes a great political cartoon.
“We are trying to tell a story of the year in Australian politics through political cartoons. So, we want to choose great cartoons that address the big events and personalities that made news in 2025,” Jones says. “We also look at the impact of each cartoon. Does it make you laugh? Does it make you think? Does it have something to say on an issue that enhances public debate?”
Another fairly obvious consideration is the way that the cartoons look. “They are works of illustrative art, so we also consider a cartoon’s visual appeal,” Jones says. “Does it demonstrate excellence in the quality of the drawing or painting or digital image creation?”
The exhibition also gives visitors a chance to engage with various different cartoon styles and a range of different perspectives. “The Australian cartooning community is very healthy and diverse, and we want the exhibition to reflect that,” Jones says.
This year’s exhibition theme is Are We Rolling?, and it draws inspiration from the world of film.
“We went for movies partly because there seemed to be a greater than usual number of cartoons produced that used movie references,” Jones says. “But also, for many a screenwriter and novelist, news headlines have been one of richest sources for story ideas. And of course, the political thriller is a very popular movie genre.”
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There are 45 political cartoonists featured in the exhibition. The featured cartoonists represent the wide variety of artists and illustrators working in the field, says Jones. Roughly half the cartoonists have been appearing in the exhibition for more than decade, but there are also nine artists appearing for the first time.
“Many of the cartoons appear in the major daily newspapers like the Herald Sun and The Age, but also a lot of the cartoons were published on independent online platforms like Patreon, Substack and Instagram,” Jones says. “I think one of the great things about the exhibition is that the visitor is exposed to range of different viewpoints.”
Matt Golding of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald was named the political cartoonist of the year for 2025. Golding also created the hero image for the exhibition.
“This year Matt’s work covered so many stories: the federal election, climate change, inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples, the housing crisis,” Jones says. “His cartoons were funny, poignant and constantly inventive but they also cleverly referenced pop culture, high culture and of course: the movies.”
Golding’s work features in the exhibition alongside works by Brett Lethbridge, Oslo Davis, Mark Knight, Fiona Katauskas, Cathy Wilcox and many more.
Behind the Lines runs until 3 May at the Old Treasury Building. Details here.
