Cartooning Syria…

and the Rest of the World

While the Syrian Regime and its Russian allies continue to bomb civilians in the North of Syria, the world has witnessed quite a dramatic year in 2020, from the devastating explosion in Beirut to populist politics in the USA, the murder of George Floyd and the recent terrorist attacks in France. Syrian cartoonists, in Syria and in exile, have been responding, documenting and commenting on these global events, keeping Syria at the heart of their work, especially as the Syrian issue falls by the wayside in mainstream media.

Alone but together, Syrian cartoonists continue to play their role as global citizens, standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement for example, and reflecting on the most wide reaching event of the year worldwide: Coronavirus!

This new virtual exhibition features more than a hundred new cartoons by 33 Syrian artists in collaboration with Cartooning Syria, a project that started in 2017 in Amsterdam and has held several exhibitions across the Netherlands, Norway and Germany. This is Cartooning Syria’s first virtual exhibition.

The revised and expanded edition of the book Cartooning Syria features 156 cartoons by 39 Syrian cartoonists, together with cartoons from Dutch, Flemish, Norwegian and German colleagues. You will also find articles about Syrian cartoonists and cartoons and the meaning of cartoons in general. The book is dedicated to Palestian-Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan (1974-2013) who was imprisoned and killed in Syrian prisons and to cartoonist-activist Raed Fares (1972-2018) who was killed in the streets of Kafranbel, Syria. If you want to get a copy of the book, please contact info@syriandreams.nl

Syria 2020

Unsurprisingly, the situation in Syria, both politically and for people on the grounds, has been at the centre of Syrian cartoonists' attention, especially as the bombings of Idlib continues on a daily basis, unnoticed international media.

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Beirut

Many Syrian cartoonists know Beirut like the back of their hand, a city that to them symbolises resilience and hope. It is therefore expected that their work would reflect the pain resulting from the explosion at Beirut Port on 4 August 2020.

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Coronavirus

Surely, it’s not just Syrian cartoonists who view the coronavirus pandemic has a hugely relevant political context which they see as their responsibility to highlight and expose…

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Trump

Donald Trump will, for ever, be one of the most controversial characters in the history of politics, a man whose hair, as well as other things about him, gave Syrian cartoonists a lot of ideas!

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Black Lives Matter

The struggle against all forms of racism, discrimination and injustice is arguably what cartooning is all about. The killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 and the following protests Syrian cartoonists, themselves ‘experts by experience’ of what injustice feels like.

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France

The Syrian people have arguably suffered more from terrorism, including state terrorism, more than any other people in the 21st century. Freedom of speech and expression has been one of the main reasons the 2011 Syrian Revolution broke out. Syrian cartoonists’ standing against terrorism and with freedom of speech is therefore inevitable.

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Syrian Chairs

The chairs in Syrian cartoons symbolize the abuse power in politics, from the early beginnings as a metaphor under censorship in Syria. Now as an icon for all dictatorships.

Syrian Chairs

The chair in Syrian’ consciousness and conversations has always been a symbol of the authoritarian nature of the regime and the corruption and abuse of power by government figures and other politicians in Syria and abroad.

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Meet the Cartoonists

Yaser Ahmad

Yaser Ahmad (1977, Qamashli) lives in Turkey. He studied education and worked as a teacher and simultaneously as a cartoonist in Qamashli. He was a cartoonist for magazines and newspapers in uae, Kuwait and Qatar. He left Syria in 2013. Now he is a cartoonist for the Arab newspaper in London and Makkah newspaper in Saudi Arabia. Yaser Ahmad won the Arab Journalism Award in Dubai.

Wissam Asaad

Wissam Asaad (1976, Damascus) lives in Damascus. He has a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. Wissam Asaad was a cartoonist for the Syrian economic weekly newspaper (2006-2012), cartoonist for Magazine Juhaynah Syria (2007-2012), a cartoonist for trade and business magazines (2009-2012). He received the first prize in the 2nd International Cartoon Contest Sinaloa in Mexico 2013 and was one of the ten winners of the 15thInternational Editorial Cartoon Competition 2015.

Sulafa Hijazi

Sulafa Hijazi (Damascus) lives in Berlin. She studied at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Syria, where she majored in dramatic studies, and at the Städelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in the class of Judith Hopf. Sulafa Hijazi is a visual artist, director and producer. Hijazi began her professional career as a writer and director of animation TV-series and for other film and media productions, with a particular focus on children’s education and social development. In addition, she was a member of the founding team of Spacetoon, “the first free Arabic satellite channel for kids”, and a board member of cifej International Center of Films for Children and Young People since 2012.
Hijazi has received several awards for her work, among them at the Iran international children- and family film festival for her latest feature animation The Jasmine Birds. Hijazi's artwork and illustrations have been exhibited in several galleries in Europe and featured in social media newspapers, and on Internet websites as part of the Syrian rising art movement.

Sameer Khalili

Sameer Khalili (1990, Homs) lives in Leusden (The Netherlands). He studies Information and Communication Technology at the University of Utrecht. Sameer Khalili is a graphic designer and cartoonist.

Saad Hajo

Saad Hajo (1968, Damascus) lives in Sweden. He obtained a bachelor’s degree at the Art University in Damascus in 1989. He has worked daily for the last twenty years as a satirical cartoonist for the newspaper As-Safir in Beirut. He also worked for the newspaper An-Nahar, also in Beirut, the weekly newspaper Al-Ahram Alarabi in Cairo, and after moving to Sweden for Folkbladet. Saad Hajo has published internationally and organized international cartoon exhibitions. In 2004, he was a jury mfember for the Aydin Dogan International Caricature Competition, in Istanbul. In 2015, he was ewk (Ewert Karsson)-prize winner.

Ryan Altounji

Ryan Altounji (1992, Aleppo) lives in Aleppo. He graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts (Graphic Design) at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Aleppo. After graduating he started teaching graphic design at Said college from 2014-2016. In 2015, he worked on three projects for the United Nations Development Program (undp) Syria designing banners and logos, and he participated in shows for multiple charity art galleries in Aleppo. Ryan Altounji also worked with the Ministry of Tourism in Syria on an animated short film. In 2016, he worked on project Jeser (Bridge) with undp Syria (Damascus) as an illustrator for a comic book that aimed to put Syria's historical sites in the spotlight.

Ronald Bos

Ronald Bos (1948) is a Dutch documentary maker and publicist about writers and poets, among them Faraj Bayrakdar. He worked for the Dutch Foundation for Literature and was a board member of Dutch PEN. Ronald Bos is the initiator and curator of Cartooning Syria.

Neveen Al Dalati

Neveen Aldalati (1981, Zabadani / Damascus) lives in Istanbul. She is journalist and says cartooning is her hobby. Neveen studied English Language and Literature at Damascus University. From 2012 – 2015 she was journalist and editing manager for Magazine Oxygen and produced a weekly caricature. From 2014 she works at Al Kul Radio Station, where she presents a daily show that focuses on Syrian women. She also works for Mada Syria website. Neveen worked under several nick names.

Mwafaq Katt

Mwafaq Katt (1955, Damascus) lives in Toronto, Canada. In 1974, he published his first political cartoons in the Communist Youth Union’s secret newspaper. In 1975, the Youth Union offered him a scholarship to study art in Moscow. He worked for The Moscow News as a cartoonist. In 1982, he graduated with a Master of Arts, having majored in animation. After his military service Mwafaq Katt worked for Syrian TV and became the head of animation from 2009 till 2011. He was also professor in animation, illustration and visual arts at the University of Kalamoon, the International University of Science and Technology and The Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Syria (2008-2011). After the beginning of the Syrian Revolution in March 2011, Mwafaq Katt, his wife and two children moved to Canada, where he continues his artistic work. He recently won the Arab Cartoon Award in Qatar.

Mohammed Seyda

Mohammed Seyda (Sida) (1976, Syria) lives in Gävle, Sweden. He works as a designer.

Mahmoud Salameh

Mahmoud Salameh (1972, Yarmouk/Damascus) lives in Australia. He is cartoonist, animation filmmaker and graphic artist. Mahmoud worked in Syria an Lebanon for magazines as Al Safir and Al Adaab. He published in The Guardian and on ABC website in Australia. Animation films for Spacetoons and Tiger Productions. Mahmoud is ‘passionate about social justice’ and uses art to promote human rights. The messages in his work address injustice around the world.

Mahmoud Al Bahra

Mahmoud Al-Bahra (1965, Damascus) lives in Berlin. He studied at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Damascus from 1984-1989 and obtained his PhD at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin in 2003. His cartoons can be viewed online on Cartoonist Mahmoud Al Bahra facebook or Instagram.

Khalid Jalal

Khalid Jalal (1962, Damascus) lives in the United Arab Emirates. He studied Fine Arts at the Damascus University, and graduated in 1988. He is a professional cartoonist and illustrator, a 2D and 3D animator, a graphic designer and art director. He started publishing cartoons in Syrian newspapers and magazines, and later drew for newspapers and magazines in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. He worked for TV channels in Syria and Dubai.

Kaniwar Zidan

Kaniwar Zidan (1985, Al Qamishlo / Syria) is living in Germany. Since Zidan was young when he started, he used to draw caricatures for a magazine on the wall at school. Zidan started seriously drawing caricatures during the Iranian Green revolution and from 2011 for the Syrian revolution. His work has been published in many Kurdish, Syrian and German magazines and on several websites.

Kamiran Shemdin

Kamiran Shemdin (1974, Qamishli) lives in The Netherlands. He is married and has four children. Shemdin was a cartoonist for Al Jazeera and a Kurdish magazine in Kurdistan, Iraq. In the past, he had two individual exhibitions and participated with other cartoonists in five more.

Jawad Murad

Jawad Murad (1983, Maliki/Damascus) lives in Erbil in Kurdistan, northern Iraq. He is a journalist and cartoonist. Murad studied Archeology in Damascus and Art at the Institute of Adham Ismail in Damascus (2010-2012). Murad worked for newspapers and websites. He has staged several solo exhibitions, the most recent in Duhok (2013) and Erbil (2013 and 2016).

Hussam Sara

Hussam Sara (1973, Damascus) lives in Frankfurt am Main and studied at Damascus University.

Hossam Al Saadi

Hossam Al Saadi (1978, Kuwait) lives in Brussels. He started drawing when he was ten years old. At the age of fifteen, he won the first place in a drawing contest for schoolboys in As Suwayda, Syria. Later on, he was asked to stop drawing by the school principal after he drew a caricature for a Palestinian cause. In order to make a living, as his drawings weren’t published, he opened and Internet cafe that he named Arcada. After a while, his café became a haven for the youth who opposed the Syrian regime. One day, the pro regime Shabbiha supported by the security forces, attacked the café and tried to smash it to pieces. This led the mayor and the secretary general of the Ba’ath Party of Swaida City to issue an order to close down the café. As such, it was sealed and shut down. Hossam al Saadi had to leave the country to Lebanon, not an ideal place for anti-Assad activists. Once again he had to flee. After Amman, Jordan, he went to Istanbul to escaped by the sea as refugee and reach Belgium, where he is living now. There, he managed to return to his old hobby, drawing, looking forward to go back to an Assad-free Syria.

Hazem Alhamwi

Hazem Alhamwi (1980, Damascus) lives in Berlin. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Art, Theater and Filmmaking in Damascus. His artistic inspiration is ‘a mixture of pain and knowledge in a room’. He directed and produced his feature film From my Syrian room.

Hani Abbas

Hani Abbas (1977, Yarmouk refugee camp, Damascus, Syria) lives in Geneva.
He graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Damascus in 1999
and established solo comic exhibitions since 1998 in Syria and other Arab countries. He has a background as a primary school teacher and taught in that capacity grade 1 to 6 in Damascus for fifteen years, before he was forced to leave Syria. Hani Abbas first ended up in the North of Lebanon in 2013 and then moved on to Switzerland, where he obtained political asylum in 2014, with his wife and son. Hani Abbas’s cartoons talk about human rights, freedom and the pain of displacement.
Hani Abbas is a freelance cartoonist for newspapers, magazines and other media platforms such as Charlie Hebdo, Al Jazeera and Al Modon, and since April 2014 he is a freelance collaborator to the International School of Geneva, where he teaches the course Cartooning for Peace.

Hakam Al Waheb

Hakam Al Waheb (1975, Hama) lives in Canada. He’s a Syrian artist, and a creative director in an advertising agency. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, at Damascus University from 1996 till 1999. His style is diverse and he doesn’t like to limit himself to one school or genre, but in the past five years he focused more on political cartoons, to try and explain the suffering of the Syrian people under the Assad regime in an artistic way. He “dreams to go back one day to my lovely home in Syria”.

Firas Bachi

Firas Bachi (1979, Damascus) lives in the usa. He studied at the Faculty of Business & Economics at the University of Damascus. He is a freelance graphic designer and art director. Firas Bachi’s political CaricaToonz are cartoons and artworks that take a stand against all forms of dictatorial politics, humane injustices, suppression and oppression, and racism and discrimination. His cartoons ‘dig deep to expose the fuzzy scenes in an unjust world, of injustice where surrendering suddenly became a habit, and supporting the unjust became a worship’.

Fares Garabet

Fares Garabet (1963, Damascus) lives in Dresden. He got a PhD in Animation Art and is a university professor. Since 1986 he publishes cartoons in Arabic and international newspapers. In 2007, Fares Garabet was the representative for unicef’s "Draw Attention". In 2012 he got a King Abdullah II award, a Jordanian prize . He publishes his cartoons on the msnbc website (USA).

Fares Cachoux

Fares Cachoux (Homs) lives in Paris. He studied computer engineering in Aleppo, and got a master’s degree and PhD in digital art and visual communication at Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée. Later he moved to the United Arab Emirates where he taught at the university and worked in the field of media. After the revolution broke out, he couldn’t concentrate on his work anymore and moved to Syria, where his family lived in Homs. He worked as a photographer and made portraits of people. After the massacre of Al Houla near Homs he started began to make posters, to be understood without language. He wanted to document the most important moments of the Syrian Revolution. In 2013, he directed the short movie Al Kalb (The Dog), that was screened at the Cannes Festival.

Dima Dali

Dima Al-Barri - artist name Dali - (North-Aleppo, 1997) is living in North-Aleppo. She is currently studying Business Administration, after a study of Political Science. Dima was active in the field of women's rights from 2015-2020. Her first work of drawing was a graphic story of Egyptian detainees. She also participated in a graphic series entitled Newspaper talk, highlighting Freedom of Expression and Opinion. Dima Dali also participated in graphic images on the topic of women's participation in elections. She works independently with local and international platforms and recently she is managing a media team active in digital revolution.

Cartooning Syria…

and the Rest of the World

Syria 2020

Beirut

Coronavirus

Trump

Black Lives Matter

France

Syrian Chairs

Syrian Chairs

Meet the Cartoonists

+44 161 222 9779

+44 7730 194083

info@rrsoc.org