Ramadan rituals in ‘Corona time’ inspire cartoonists in the Arab world

In light of the Corona Epidemic Headquarters, cartoonists seek a critical and cynical outlook, to attempt to express the drama of the global position on the pandemic with their own philosophy and lines. Finally, a number of cartoonists in Egypt have decided to come out of this prevailing negative atmosphere with a positive step by organizing a virtual group exhibition Investigating the rituals of the holy month of Ramadan in light of social estrangement and isolation inside houses.

The exhibition, titled “Ramadaniyat”, does not recognize the geographical borders closed by the Corona virus, in which artists from different countries of the world participate, whose contributions have been collected in a five-minute video clip prepared and edited by the Saudi cartoonist Ayman Al-Ghamri, and he has overseen the exhibition each of Egyptian artist Fawzi Morsi, and Emirati artist Amna Al Hammadi.

According to artist Fawzi Morsi, organizer of the exhibition and member of the board of directors of the Egyptian Cartoon Association, after the success of the “Ramadaniyat” exhibition organized by the Egyptian Association of Comics in cooperation with the Cultural Development Fund sector last Ramadan, and participation in it was limited to Egyptian artists only, “We have decided that It will be an annual exhibition to be held in the middle of Ramadan, and participation is open to all artists from different countries of the Arab and Islamic world.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Considering the circumstances we are going through with the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the cancellation of all art events and exhibitions to prevent gatherings, we have made the decision to organize the event. exhibition electronically, to be the first electronic exhibition to be presented through video posted to websites and social networks, which had a great impact, especially after everyone had been at home for long periods due to the ban, to be the first event of its kind, because the Egyptian Caricature Association, the Moroccan Caricature Association, the Kuwaiti Caricature Association and the Jordanian website Tomito Cartoon participate in its organization.

The exhibition includes 55 cartoons and 55 artists from 15 Arab and foreign countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Bahrain, Tunisia, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and the United States participate in the exhibition. The exhibition is offered to all medical personnel from all countries of the world, which is the first line of defense against the Corona pandemic.

In the exhibition panels, the “icons” of the holy month of Ramadan of mosques, lanterns and breakfast cannons are collected and filled with symbols that have become associated with the atmosphere of the Corona virus, including masks , isolation inside houses and lack of mosques. And with it another theme, which is the impact of the Corona virus on the different rituals and customs of Ramadan, and it was striking that most of the artists were keen to participate in the expression of this influence, especially since the cartoon has a great responsibility in the face of the spread of this pandemic, which is the responsibility of raising the level of health awareness. To citizens, through certain participatory actions, which send a number of educational messages to encourage and encourage people to stay at home, and to adhere to various prevention and precautionary measures to avoid infection with the Coronavirus.