JEDDAH, 5 July 2007 — Bravely breaking into a field that is considered to be male dominated not only in Saudi Arabia but also all over the world, 27-year-old Arab News cartoonist Hana Hajjar is holding her first caricature exhibition on Saturday at the Al-Tahliah Center in Jeddah.
Hajjar, who was known in the Kingdom first as a fine artist before beginning to publish her own cartoons in Arab News in 2005, said: “For years, male cartoonists made fun of women. It is our turn now to express ourselves and you can also say payback time is due.” She added that the cartoons on display vary from discussing social and political issues.
Hajjar will be displaying 155 cartoons for 10 days starting on Saturday at 8 p.m. The exhibition is being held on the second floor of the Al-Tahliah Center. “I started making cartoons at an early age when I was around 13 and have been drawing sketches from that time,” she said. Hajjar has previously traveled to Egypt and was coached by famous Egyptian cartoonist Saad Eldin Shehata, who works at the Al-Ahram newspaper.
