The art of caricature was the right frame that combined my passion in painting and sense of sarcasm,” is how Ali Farzat started telling his story with caricatures to Arab News.
The head of the Society of Arab Cartoonists since 1980 and controversial Syrian cartoonist, Farzat started the first private Syrian newspaper since the Baathist Party controlled the country in 1963. He established the newspaper in February 2001 after the government granted him a license. Farzat named the satirical weekly Al-Domari, which means lamplighter.
The newspaper discussed political, economic and social issues with a taste of bold sarcasm surrounded by the caricatures of Ali Farzat, who left no issue or personality untouched, which led the government to revoke his license and shut it down in July 2003.
During the newspaper’s short life it had many admirers, who considered it a brave start for press freedom in Syria. Despite its higher price, shops would sell out each edition on its first day of issue.
“Syria’s shops used to run out of Al-Domari’s copies, while people used to wrap sandwiches with Tishreen Newspaper, a public Syrian newspaper,” commented a Lebanese participant of a symposium about Arabic media in Beirut.
About his style of drawing, Farzat said he doesn’t allude to specific people or events.
“My caricatures are not limited to specific settings or people; however, they can apply to all places and times,” he said.
He also said it’s the readers’ decision to interpret what they see in a caricature.
“I draw caricatures that include ideas hidden within them, leaving the readers to use their imagination to understand the drawing ‘s meaning,” he said.
Farzat was born in 1951 in Hama City, 200 km north of Damascus. He was an external student at the Fine Art Department of Damascus University to learn the basics of painting. It was at that time he began doing journalistic work in Hama.
Since the age of five, he knew that he had artistic talent. Because of his sarcastic perspective, he gravitated toward drawing caricatures, which seemed like a bitter laugh over everyday events.
In seventh-grade, Farzat started giving imbuing cartoons with sarcasm over real political and social issues.
“At that age, I started giving my caricatures deeper meaning,” said Farzat. Whoever takes a look at his caricatures will notice that every caricature can replace a whole article about the same issue.
“My first professional caricature was published on the front page of Al-Ayyam (The Days) newspaper when I was 12 years old,” he told Arab News. Farzat also said he began considering himself as a professional cartoonist at age 18.
To compile his favorite caricatures of the 15,000 he’s drawn over 35 years, Farzat crafted a book published by Cune Press. The volume, “A Pen of Damascus Steel: Political Cartoons of an Arab Master,” consists of caricatures about terror and tyrants, life, government, society and world problems. The book also includes a biography about him.
Farzat’s caricatures have appeared in many newspapers among them Kuwait’s Al-Watan and the French daily Le Monde.
He also has garnered many awards. In 1980, he received the first prize at the Intergraphic International Festival in Berlin. He also notched first prizes at both the first and second Caricature Festival in Damascus in 1980 and 1982. One of his more recent honors was Prince Claus Award in 2002.
Last year, a new center dedicated to preserving press freedom was created in Damascus. Farzat was chosen as the honorary chairman of the center, which is called Hurriyat, or freedoms.
Farzat’s personal philosophy is a little anachronistic. He doesn’t use technology in his daily life. He has neither cell phone nor Internet access. When I asked him for his business card or contact numbers, he answered that he had neither. Instead, he gives his postal code and landline phone number.
“I think technology dominates people in a way that they don’t use their minds to think,” he said. “They have everything ready for them so they stop using their natural abilities to help themselves.”
Despite of his technophobia, further information about him can be found at www.alifarzat.com, which is powered by Gyoza Media.
