For Everyday Heroes
Enchanted Geography

In Enchanted Geography Sarnath Banerjee writes about a hyped city, Berlin, while making full use of common clichés. The 17 columns that the Berliner-by-choice composed in 2013 for “The Hindu”, one of India’s largest dailies, document these phenomena, but do not leave it at that.

Extracts from "Enchanted Geography ”:

About the artist Sarnath Banerjee:

When Sarnath Banerjee draws he slows down and shares an intimate moment with the object of his drawing. The place becomes part of him.

Travelpedia: Berlin

© Sarnath Banerjee
Berlin and its airports - a joke in itself. While in 2020 everyone is still waiting for the opening of the scandal capital airport in Berlin Schönefeld, one of the other two is already history: Berlin-Tempelhof started scheduled flights in 1923. Until its closure on 30 October 2008, it was known as the Central Airport. The monumental building counted 350,000 passengers. Since 2010, the site has been open to the public. Berliners usually call it Tempelhofer Feld.
© Sarnath Banerjee
The Kottbusser Tor - affectionately called Kotti by the locals - is a popular hotspot in Kreuzberg. For newcomers, the sometimes quite foul-smelling place is not very attractive. Four streets lead from the noisy roundabout into four different neighbourhoods. If you really want to understand Berlin, you must have been to Kotti once. But not only at the underground station of the same name...
© Sarnath Banerjee
The Berliner likes to use playful terms: He affectionately calls the winged sculpture on the Victory Column on the Great Star in the Tiergarten Goldelse. It is one of the most important sights of Berlin and one of the most important national monuments in Germany. There is a vantage point on the 69-metre-high column, which promises a fantastic view over the Tiergarten and nearby Bellevue Palace. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Marie Schröer on "Enchanted Geography ”

Let me reveal at the start that this piece of work has turned out to be fabulous, not least because of the fairy-tale like characteristics."

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"I think it was the sheer size of this large Indian city, and then the otherness of the visible structure and society compared to here that initially blew my mind,’ says Barbara Yelin, recalling her stay in New Delhi, a city she travelled to for a week in late 2012 at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut.

More about Graphic Travelogues

About the artists

Learn more about our well-known artists, including Barbara Yelin, Reinhard Kleist and Sarnath Banerjee. All with proven comic expertise and sometimes with more, sometimes with less travel experience in the respective country.

About Graphic Travelogues

Graphic Travelogues presents travel experiences by comic artists from different countries, illuminates and identifies recurring topics. From sketches to graphic novels, graphic diaries and travel drawings, we collect treasures here and question concepts and motivations, techniques and experiences.

For Everyday Heroes Enchanted Geography