#samandal

[pquessev]

Prendre l’album de famille (en sortant de chez soi), Jana Traboulsi et Nawal Abboud, Samandal 2014, histoires graphiques d’ici et là.

[oumcartoon]

La Nouvelle bande dessinée arabe

Arab artists were the stars of this year’s Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême, Europe’s premier comic con.

This coterie of artists has long gathered at festivals in Algiers, Beirut, or Cairo. But now, they were treated to a grand welcoming in Angoulême, the city of comics. (French speakers, see coverage in Le Monde or VICE of a landmark exhibition of new comic art from the Middle East.)

I contributed an essay to book that launched at Angoulême. Simply titled La Nouvelle bande-dessinée arabe, it is just that: a richly illustrated assortment of Arab alt-comix.

It includes knock-out strips from acclaimed zines Lab619, Samandal, Skef-Kef, and Tok Tok and drawings by Mazen Kerbaj, Rym Mokhtari, Lena Merhej, Joseph Kaï, Ganzeer, Andeel, Tawfig, Golo, Migo, Twins Cartoon, Othman Selmi, and many others.

From my essay:

“What were or are the golden ages for caricature in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East?” asks veteran American journalist Victor S. Navasky in his 2013 book, The Controversial Art: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power. Here’s the thing: One needn’t venture very far to find the Middle East and North Africa’s comic renaissance. Just hop a flight to Cairo or Beirut or any Maghrebi capital, where over the past decade, a vanguard of Arab illustrators has come of age.

But for those who can’t spare the journey, the book is a rare tour of Arab comics in translation. The colorful format, a zine-like compendium of oodles of artists, brings out the best of the comics themselves.

From Algeria to Iraq, Jordan to Morocco, and everywhere in between, a new generation of comic artists is drawing upon this archive of graphic storytelling, caricature, and sequential art in the Arab world. That this book, the first collection to bring together a wide collection of Arab comics and translate them to French, would have the appearance of a zine—a mix and medley of voices that capture the cacophony of the quotidian and fantastical in the Middle East—is particularly apt. The most audacious Arab comics have first been published by independent collectives, launched at urban spaces, sold at art galleries and cafés, and devoured by young readers eager for the next edition.

What is also distinctive about Samandal and like-minded zines that have gained cult followings in Algeria, Egypt Iraq, Morocco, and Tunisia is that they are horizontal collectives motivated by art, not fame or profit.  Another thread that connects many of these comics is an urban sensibility. This is also an impetus behind Egypt’s comic ‘zine Tok Tok, a collaborative publication that has published 14 issues since 2011. The diversity 
of images from a multitude of artists
call on the reader to experience 
Cairo, to take a deep breath and look around, to sit in an open air ahwa (coffeehouse) and
drink a tea and talk to people. 

“I wanted to be in direct contact with the street,” says Tok Tok cofounder Mohamed Shennawy. In his narrative sequences, the reader can almost smell the megalopolis, a bustling city of noise and light pollution that is film never catches. The stories of Shennawy and his collaborators also capture the social inequalities and dynamics of a city in flux since the 2011 revolution. Tok Tok is a call to 
engage with its complicated history and to challenge censorship.

“Géographie”, Joseph Kaï. Samandal, Liban. 2015.

***

Order La Nouvelle bande dessinée arabe here.

[rey-east-blog]

In Conversation with: Samandal Comics

Samandal Comics is a volunteer, non-profit collective that is dedicated to advancing comics in Lebanon, based in Beirut. The talk was based on the question ‘Speaking Up and Speaking Out’. The panel was composed of several members of the organisation; Rui Tenreiro, Francesca Sanna, Raphaelle Macaron and Joseph Kai.

How to use comics to advance politics?

Francesca: “Critiques always say to me, ‘Why have you got to be so political, in children’s books?’ I reply with the fact that a message in children’s books is something everyone looks for. What is and what isn’t, everything can be made political. Children’s books have been used to motivate political stances in kids.”

Rui: “Politics should reflect in the structure of what you’re doing. For example, comics written for and by refugees. These people should be allowed to tell their story. It’s empowering. You should involve people directly in what you’re doing to make a real statement, that’s how it becomes political.”

Is it necessary to be talking about politics in comics?

Raphaelle: “No, but it’s a powerful tool that should be used more.” 

Francesca: “A book is yours until you publish it, and you can’t control it after that. 

It’s undeniable that children are affected by the events in this world and comics provide a way to talk about it.”

Joe: “Young authors have a lot to say about our current political situation. Comics trigger questions and it gives an incentive to start a conversation.” 

Raphaelle: “I agree, gathering a community through comics is a political act in itself. It starts that conversation for people who aren’t ready to talk about politics but want to in the future.”

LGBTQ+ community, discrimination and religion

Q: What isn’t spoken about in your home countries? 

Raphaelle: “People aren’t afraid to talk, but religion is a sensitive topic in comics with the Catholic church being the most problematic. The biggest issue is visual imagery of religious artefacts or symbols. We have problems with comics being taken out of context by religious groups claiming they are ‘initiating hate and blasphemy’.”

Joe: “They have to consider how to deal with censorship and artists/authors that have to contend with an ‘eye’ constantly watching over them.”

Diversity in comics 

Francesca: “Comics including same-sex and diverse parents were taken from public libraries, even with a book about colours, Little Yellow Little Blue, was banned as it opposed ‘gender norms’ and went against ‘traditional values’. How ridiculous. However, books that are removed from libraries often get more publicity and interest from young readers as they are curious as to why it’s ‘wrong’.”

Topics covering Islam 

Raphaelle: “The only major problems are with the Catholic church but any religious extremist will find any adaptation of their religion ‘unholy’ and ‘wrong’. 

People generally think Islam has the most issues with the content in comics but it’s a relief to say actually no, it’s the Catholics!”

Joe: “You always have to consider, ‘who are we addressing these comics to? Who’s going to read them?’ Authors of comics have to ask themselves, ‘Do I want to provoke? Do I want to be loud or quiet or in danger?’”

Preaching to the choir

Q: How do you expand your audience? Do you want people to join the conversation?

Rui: “It’s all about structure - the people in question should be involved, so you need to bring them into the argument.”

Raphaelle: “The publisher will need to share my views in order for my comic to actually go somewhere. For example, for the International Day Against Homophobia, I was told to make posters instead of comics.”

Joe: “It’s not effective to preach something without including the people affected. Always be inclusive.”

Making for others - not your experiences

Francesca: “You need to do a lot of research, find a universal voice, common ground and a pattern.”

Joe: “Don’t feel entitled to speak about a topic but you can still give your personal opinion, even if it’s not fully relevant. 

If you feel strongly enough about something, you should be able to talk about it.”

Raphaelle: “Just don’t pretend to be more involved than you actually are. It’s a question of perspective and being humble about your views. Always avoid the ‘white superiority complex’ if that applies to you.”

[sinae-carrotate]

Samandal

They also appeared in three separate language editions and shown printed in risography, Their theme is to experiment relying on the purely visual while they maintain to be relevant. 

[optimisticprinceconnoisseur-blog]

Day 1. Left: 39.

Yesterday morning, my mum teased me by asking for a definition of comic art and what makes it different from a caricature in 5 minutes or less. Luckily enough, I had just gone through Eisner and had forgotten about McCloud, so the answer was fast enough: “Comic art is a form of Sequential Art, a caricature cartoon, not.” 5 sec. World record (for me).

She’d come up with that question after I’d been reading about comics and, more precisely, about Arab comics in the last six months or so, since that’s the topic I wish to talk about on my final paper before graduating in… Yes, you guessed well, 40 days.

Anyway, in the evening I was just ready to write down from the notes of the different bibliography I had just checked during the last months, also McCloud, when I realized I had a document with dozens of links that I hadn’t yet checked. Half of it was in Arabic, and some of it written by artists and scholars that now I know are quite somebody and can’t be ignored.

So, just another challenge before this adventure ends. Today, I was just ready to get this through when I found out that one of the scholars I was following was also a cartoon artist I had an eye on and was on Tumblr. Then, I found another one on Instagram who was posting a picture every day related to the new words he was learning in Dutch. 

Automatically I decided I’d just copy them. And here I find myself. Today, among other things I just learnt that “comic strip” in Arabic is “شرائط” (strip, ribbon) + “مصورة” (image, photograph). Strip imaged. Literally. 

Also, it turns out that the International Festival of comics in Angouleme needed 43 editions to award a woman. Meanwhile, in the roughly ten-twelve years during which the Arab comic has developed, always about half the artists in the main publication (and prized in the main awards) were women. 

Today I feel thrilled and excited for beginning this journey, hoping that it may help me focus more seriously on the project. Ha. 

[kamatopia]

and more ... #samandal #comingsoon #comics #exhibition #inking #encrage #jeunesse #youth #composition

[kamatopia]

#comingsoon #planche #samandal #inking #encrage #youth #jeunesse

[kamatopia]

#comics #samandal#encrage #inking #planche #comingsoon