Mark Knight (born 1962) is an Australian cartoonist. He is currently the

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

for the '' Herald Sun'', a daily

tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format. Etymology The word ''tabloid'' comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs We ...

in Melbourne. Knight was also the last editorial cartoonist for one of the ''Herald Sun'''s joint predecessor newspapers, the afternoon broadsheet '' The Herald''.

Childhood

Born in

Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...

, Sydney, Knight grew up in Lakemba, attended

Wiley Park Wiley Park is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wiley Park is located 17 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown. History The now comprising ...

Primary School and then Narwee Boys' High School. He showed an early interest in drawing which was encouraged by his artistic father. Knight's first cartoons were of his family and their idiosyncrasies, drawn at family gatherings. When he was six years old, Knight's father bought him

Paul Rigby Paul Crispin Rigby AM (25 October 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an Australian cartoonist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He usually worked under the name Rigby. Early life Rigby was born in ...

's cartoon annual of 1967; Rigby's work influence his artwork for many years. He created scrapbooks of Rigby's cartoons cut from ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', and studied and imitated them while developing his cartooning style. Knight started a cadetship in 1980 in the Fairfax art department, filling in the black squares in the crossword grids. He went to

East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts ...

and studied life drawing, painting, drawing and etching.

Career

Knight worked as an editorial cartoonist for ''The Herald'', and later for the ''Herald Sun'' after ''The Herald'' and ''The Sun'' were united in 1990. In 1999 Knight, alongside

Bill Leak Desmond Robert "Bill" Leak (9 January 1956 – 10 March 2017) was an Australian editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and portraitist. Raised in Condobolin and Beacon Hill, Sydney, Leak attended Julian Ashton Art School during the 1970s. His cart ...

and other male political cartoonists, were criticised by the Labor Party's deputy leader,

Jenny Macklin Jennifer Louise Macklin (born 29 December 1953) is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, unde ...

, who argued that cartoons such as those by Knight and Leak showing

Meg Lees Meg Heather Lees (née Francis, born 19 October 1948) is a former member of the Australian Senate from 1990 to 2005, representing the state of South Australia. She represented the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 2002, and was her party's le ...

in sexual relations with

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

were demeaning to women politicians. Knight created the children's character "Leuk the Duck" (derived from ''

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

''), a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for the Challenge cancer foundation which has subsequently been used in the organisation's educational material. Knight is also well-known for his Australian rules football imagery. After cartoonist

William Ellis Green William Ellis Green (12 August 1923 – 29 December 2008), who signed his cartoons "WEG", was an Australian editorial cartoonist and illustrator who drew the Australian Football League premiership posters from 1954 until his death. Life and ca ...

("WEG") died in 2008, Knight took over his role as the ''Herald Suns creator of Australian Football League (AFL) premiership posters and, because of this, has made media appearances on AFL shows, including designing alternate posters. For example, in 2017 on ''

The Front Bar ''The Front Bar'' (formerly ''Friday Front Bar'') is an Australian Football League-based talk show that airs on the Seven Network. The show is hosted by journalist Andy Maher and comedians Mick Molloy and Sam Pang. Hosts * Regular ** Andy ...

'' ahead of that year's grand final between

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, he unveiled a poster showing co-host and Richmond fan

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. ...

wearing a Tiger onesie. In September 2018, after tennis player

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

was penalized for code violations during the 2018 US Open, Knight created a cartoon depicting Williams with exaggerated, masculine features and red lips reminiscent of racist caricatures of the 19th and 20th century. Knight was also criticized because Williams' opponent in the match was

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...

, a Japanese-Haitian, but Knight depicted Osaka instead as a blonde white woman. Knight and the ''Herald Sun'' defended the caricature as depicting Williams' behaviour and having nothing to do with race, and Knight said he knew nothing of the Jim Crow period or drawings. A day later, the ''Herald Sun'' reprinted the caricature on the front page with the headline "Welcome to PC World". After receiving several complaints, the Australian Press Council ruled in February 2019 that the cartoon did not breach its media standards.

Awards

Knight won a Quill Award for Best Cartoon in 2001 from the

Melbourne Press Club The Melbourne Press Club, commonly referred to as MPC, is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Press Club provides awards in the State of Victoria for outstanding journalism, presenting th ...

. In 2005, he won a Gold Quill Award from the

for the best cartoon of the year. He was named ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' Cartoonist of the Year at the 22nd annual Stan Cross Awards ceremony on 4 November 2007. His other accolades include awards in the categories Single Gag (2003) and Editorial (1995, 2006). In 2004, Knight was also presented with a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for his cartoon named "Benefits of a Bedtime Story". In 2003, he received an award as part of the Australian Comedy Awards in the visual category for Outstanding Cartoonist as well as another Walkley Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Mark 1962 births Living people Australian editorial cartoonists Cartoonists from Melbourne National Art School alumni Artists from Sydney