JEDDAH, 26 March 2006 — An exhibition, entitled Girls and Cartoons, showcasing cartoons and caricatures by young female talents, opens tonight at the Beaux Art Maison in Al-Hamra district here.
Under the support of Maha Fitaihi, wife of Jeddah’s mayor, and organized by the Talented Girls Patronage Group of Makkah, the exhibition aims at encouraging young women to develop their skills and guiding them toward bigger opportunities.
“Our goal is to publish comics that are written and drawn by these talented girls, but for now we have begun by purchasing two stories from a writer who specializes in writing comics and asked the girls to draw the cartoons illustrating them,” said Lamia Attas, the founder of the group.
The exhibition features the work of two teenage girls illustrating the two stories, one in English and the other in Arabic, and they were given the freedom to develop the stories, the characters and names. There is also a display of caricatures by two other girls.
“We will also present work by other talented girls. All the girls developed their talents reading comics as there are no specialized schools here. Unfortunately they were not encouraged, even by their parents, because cartoons and comics are not seen as serious art form,” Lamia explained.
The group is also planning to provide lessons in cartoon-drawing by a professional at its center. The exhibition will run for 10 days. For information call 6614651.
