Cultural Frontline: The Kadak Collective

BBC World Service

Kadak is a collective of female Indian artists, illustrators, and zine-makers, all working in the field of graphic storytelling.

In Hindi, Kadak is a word which means strong and sharp like Indian tea. The collective was established in 2016 to address the lack of women and people of colour at international comic festivals. Members are spread out across the world – particularly India, the USA and the UK.

The collective’s work is personal, political and outspokenly feminist.

We follow them as they create their first anthology, which will be both a book and a webcomic. It’s their biggest project to date and the pressures are enormous – inviting more than 50 South Asian artists from 13 different countries to produce graphic narratives on the theme of the bystander.

Presented by Akhila Krishnan

Illustrations by Shreyas R Krishnan

Produced by Victoria Ferran


Broadcast Date:  1st February 2020