‘I’m ready to move on’: in illustrations for auction, Post cartoonist looks to a better future – one free of Covid-19 restrictions

In his collection of humorous illustrations ‘More Carrot, Less Stick’, cartoonist Harry Harrison looks to a post-Covid recovery in the Year of the Rabbit

‘It’s probably just blind ignorance, but I always think it’s gonna turn out all right,’ says Harrison. Registration for the auction has opened

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“Performance rating” and “Festive ink”, two of the eight illustrations in Post cartoonist Harry Harrison’s “More Carrot, Less Stick” collection, which will be auctioned online. Registration for the auction opens on February 16. Photo: Harry Harrison

Published: 12:30pm, 16 Feb 2023Updated: 12:34pm, 16 Feb 2023

As Hong Kong enters the Year of the Rabbit, more carrot, less stick is an apt way to describe what the city needs, says Harry Harrison, the Post’s political cartoonist since 2001.

“There’s been a lot of stick, hasn’t there? There’s been a lot of regulations, people being fined,” he says, pointing to the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place for much of last year, before international travel restrictions were lifted in December 2022 and the border between Hong Kong and mainland China fully reopened early this year.

A new series of humorous illustrations by Harrison, “More Carrot, Less Stick”, points directly to the need for more positivity and less stringent measures. The eight ink and watercolour works featuring the zodiac rabbit will up for auction online at The Store by the South China Morning Post from February 23 until March 8.

Registration begins on February 16, and opening bids for each illustration will start at HK$2,023 (US$256), with bid increments of HK$200.

Harry Harrison’s sketches for three of the illustrations in his new collection for auction, “More Carrot, Less Stick”. Photo: Harry Harrison

This Lunar New Year collection follows Harrison’s inaugural series from 2022, called “Year Of The Tiger: Same Routine, New Stripes”. Two of this year’s illustrations also feature the tiger character as a nod to the difficulties of last year.