"Politics and Provocation" is the title of the exhibition showing XXL caricatures by satirist Jacques Tilly, who mainly designs huge, 3D figures for Dusseldorf's annual Carnival parade. Some of them are on display at the Ludwiggalerie Schloss Oberhausen art collection in northwest Germany (February 2 — June 14). Brexit is a major — and timely — focus.

Trump is another rewarding topic for Tilly. Above, the US president is portrayed as a baby in overflowing diapers, tearing up the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Environmental activists displayed the 7-meter tall object in front of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg during the G20 summit in July 2017, which Trump attended. One month earlier he had said the US would leave the deal.

Tilly supports Swedish environmental and climate protection activist Greta Thunberg's ideas and goals. His 2019 drawing shows her angrily pulling the ears of the parents' generation ("Eltern-Generation") and demanding, "Do something about the climate disaster already!" The float built with Greta's image for the 2019 Dusseldorf Carnival parade is still used by the Fridays for Future movement.

This Tilly float dates from 2016. Angela Merkel sits in a boat and is turned upside down by a wave bearing the words "Refugee wave." She may be upside down, but she remains undaunted, her fingertips touching each other in a kind of rhombus, a gesture she typically makes.

Tilly and his team build the larger-than-life figures in a large hall in Dusseldorf. A framework of wooden poles is covered with wire mesh, coated in paper-mache and later painted. Tilly's figures stand out because of their strong facial features, which have a high recognition value. The gigantic caricatures are quite self-explanatory.

Politicians' heads are a Tilly trademark: Be it Merkel or Trump, they are immediately recognizable. A cherubic Trump figure was on a 2019 float behind Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wielded a bloody chainsaw while "guardian angel" Trump held his hands protectively over him. Only the Trump figure is shown in the exhibition (above with another Merkel figure).

This 2017 drawing shows caterpillars symbolizing five right-wing conservative political leaders (Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the US' Trump, Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Viktor Orban) who gnaw away at a leaf democracy. In Poland, a float based on the drawing accompanies campaigns of government critics for democracy and the constitution.

Time and again, Tilly points his finger at global right-wing populists. He sees values such as the rule of law and pluralism as threatened by a "new wave of authoritarian thinking." Tilly has raised the issue repeatedly in designs for his carnival floats, like the above one, "Blond is the New Brown," in 2017. In Germany, the color brown has historically represented the political far right.

The world was shocked after the attacks on journalists at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015. Many German carnival parade groups refrained from satirizing the topic because of the danger involved. Tilly, however, felt a "sense of proportion" was called for and designed a float for the Dusseldorf parade just a few weeks later that stated, "Satire cannot be killed."

May became prime minister after David Cameron resigned from the post in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote in June 2016. Despite her position, she has struggled to define what kind of Brexit her government wants. Hardliners within her Conservative party want her to push for a clean break. Others want Britain to stay close to the bloc. The EU itself has rejected many of May's Brexit demands.

The leader of the British Labour Party has no formal role in the Brexit talks, but he is influential as the head of the main opposition party. Labour has tried to pressure the Conservative government, which has a thin majority in Parliament, to seek a "softer" Brexit. But Corbyn's own advocacy has been lukewarm. The long-time leftist voted for the UK to leave the European Community (EC) in 1975.

Boris Johnson's turbulent two years as UK foreign secretary came to an abrupt end with his resignation on July 9. The conservative had been a key face for the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum campaign. Johnson disapproves of the "soft Brexit" sought by PM May, arguing that a complete break from the EU might be preferable. He became the second Cabinet member within 24 hours to quit...

David Davis headed Britain's Department for Exiting the EU and was the country's chief negotiator in the talks before he quit on July 8, less than 24 hours before Downing Street announced Boris Johnson's departure. Davis had long opposed Britain's EU membership and was picked for the role for this reason. Davis was involved in several negotiating rounds with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.

Raab replaced Davis in early July 2018. But he only lasted four months, resigning a day after Theresa May presented a draft withdrawal plan to her cabinet. Raab previously worked for a Palestinian negotiator in the Oslo peace process and as an international lawyer in Brussels advising on European Union and World Trade Organization law.

Jeremy Hunt was Britain's Health Secretary until he replaced Boris Johnson as foreign secretary in early July 2018. The 51-year-old supported Britain remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, but said in late 2017 that he had changed his mind in response to the "the arrogance of the EU Commission" during Brexit talks. He has vowed to help get Britain a "great Brexit deal."

Nigel Farage was the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) until July 2016. Under his stewardship, the party helped pressure former Prime Minister David Cameron into calling the EU referendum. He was also a prominent activist in the Leave campaign in the lead-up to the vote. Farage still has some influence over Brexit talks due to his popularity with pro-Leave voters.

Businessman Arron Banks is a friend of Nigel Farage, and donated a significant sum to the former UKIP leader's Leave.EU campaign – making him the group's biggest financial backer. He had several meetings with Russian officials ahead of the referendum, but has denied allegations of collusion with Moscow in the Brexit vote, branding the claims a "political witch hunt."

EU Commission President Juncker (left) and EU Council President Tusk (right) share two of the bloc's highest posts. Juncker heads the EU's executive. Tusk represents the governments of the 27 EU countries — the "EU 27." Both help formulate the EU's position in Brexit negotiations. What Tusk says is particularly noteworthy: His EU 27 masters — not the EU commission — must agree to any Brexit deal.

The former French foreign minister and European commissioner has become a household name across the EU since his appointment as the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator in October 2016. Despite his prominence, Barnier has limited room to maneuver. He is tasked with following the EU 27's strict guidelines and must regularly report back to them during the negotiations.

The Irish PM has been one of the most important EU 27 leaders in Brexit talks. Britain has said it will leave the EU's customs union and single market. That could force the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, to put up customs checks along the border with Northern Ireland, a British province. But Varadkar's government has repeatedly said the return of a "hard" border is unacceptable.

The leaders of the EU 27 governments have primarily set the EU's negotiating position. They have agreed to the negotiating guidelines for chief negotiator Barnier and have helped craft the common EU position for Tusk and Juncker to stick to. The individual EU 27 governments can also influence the shape of any Brexit outcome because they must unanimously agree to a final deal.