Sudanese cartoonist Khalid Albaih is talking about social, political issues by drawing outside the lines.
Khalid Albaih is a Sudanese cartoonist based in Doha, Qatar, known for his artwork on global politics and social injustice, framing current issues in a satirical light. Working under the name “Khartoon!”, a play on the word cartoon and Sudan’s capital Khartoum, Khalid was recognized by the United Nations as “one of the most prolific artists in the world”. Alongside a selection of his cartoons, Khalid discusses the concept of ‘negative art,’ the perils of internet censorship, and his desire to build solidarity.
Amanda Dibre: Hi Khalid, we are so excited to have you be part of this issue. To jump right in, what inspired you to become an artist?
Khalid Albaih: I grew up with art, mostly cartoons and comics. That made me see that there are other worlds out there. One of the basics with art is that it shows you there are deeper meanings. With comics it was a lot for me. It was a question of identity, of representation. Most of the comics I was reading were DC and Marvel comics, so no one actually looked like me at all and it was set in a world that didn’t look like my world at all. The local comics that we had were very few and not as interested in futurism, it was very local. It was very interesting to see different worlds, and how things are, and how things could be. It was just the idea that you could create worlds; you’re a creator.
AD: Who are some of your biggest influences?
KA: In cartooning, I would have to say it’s Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali. He showed me that cartooning doesn’t have to be funny and it’s also an art. It had everything to do with my society, with representation, and what we were thinking about. It was also analytical of the present situation. He lived in a camp until he was 10 years old and created a character called Handala, which means “sour” in Arabic. Handala is a kid who is 10 years old, always showing you his back and looking at the situation, and that’s him. I was 10 years old when my father had to leave Sudan, so I had a lot of connection to Handala and Naji al-Ali as well. There’s also Iraqi poet, Ahmed Matar, who writes very sarcastic short Arabic poems.
AD: What inspired you to focus on politics in your cartoons?
KA: It was about the message. It was something that the whole society would understand. I’ve always suffered with borders. Language was a border that cartooning crossed and the other border was the internet. It answered a lot of questions or it asked a lot of questions. It’s about pushing the red line until we know where the red line actually is, especially growing up in a place where censorship was a big thing. I started drawing cartoons when I was in school and in university they had these student council elections. I just started making fun of them because I thought it was all stupid. The students liked it, the guys who were running definitely didn’t like it. And I was like, yup, that’s what I want to do.
“It was very interesting to see different worlds, and how things are, and how things could be. It was just the idea that you could create worlds; you’re a creator.”
AD: Since political cartoons need to be timely, how long does it take you from the moment you hear about an issue, to thinking of an idea and creating it?
KA: Everything is about now, now, now. For around eight years, whenever something happened, I’d have to draw about it now. I was probably producing a drawing a day for years. And at the time, the Arab Spring was happening and then the counter-revolution. There was a lot of disappointment and looking back on what we were doing, I realized it wasn’t only me. It was a lot of people that fell into that rabbit hole of the internet and trying to keep up with that feed. And then I realized, what am I? Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? I’ve never had an editor before in my life so everything that I’ve been doing, I’ve been doing for me and for change and to see that change manifest. But it didn’t, so I looked back and realized I was running on this hamster wheel of the internet. Now, I really take my time with everything. I read a lot. I don’t do a cartoon just because I want to react to something as fast as possible. It’s more about the conversation that happens from it. Sometimes it takes me five minutes to come up with a cartoon and sometimes I have unfinished works that are probably five years old.
AD: Have you ever experienced backlash from your cartoons?
KA: I was detained in two different countries, Egypt and Bahrain. And online, there used to be all this backlash. I actually miss it because now with algorithms we don’t even have conversations anymore. It’s really only the people that like your work, and the more the internet became data harvesting, it became hard to have that conversation and deliver a message. We used to be censored by government bodies or be self-censored. But now you’re being censored without even being censored. You’re shouting in an echo chamber.
“We don’t have a lot of galleries or art space, but we do have generosity and community sharing. I wanted to bring art back to the people and have people involved in the making of art, whatever that art is, and of course, in resistance.”
AD: Political cartoons typically depict the negative things in the news, calling for debate or awareness. How do you
stay positive?
KA: Cartooning is a negative art because you have to be absorbed by all this news and up to date with everything. I felt I needed to take a break from the Internet so I started looking at other projects. I’ve done two books, Sudan Retold, which retells the history of Sudan with 31 artists, and another with my own works. I started an online platform called FADAA, which means “face” in Arabic. Getfadaa.com is a place where you can donate your space. It’s a place to work; to meet likeminded people. It’s all about giving, putting it forward, and having a free, independent space that you can work on. We don’t have a lot of galleries or art space, but we do have generosity and community sharing. I wanted to bring art back to the people and have people involved in the making of art, whatever that art is, and of course, in resistance. I also started a project in Doha called Doha Fashion Friday, which looks at how we view migrant workers with all the negative publicity around it and their real life. I started SudanArtistFund.com, or SAF, to fund artists every month because of revolution, resistance, and to keep artists working. Art is about freedom of speech and expression. If you don’t have artists doing that, then people wouldn’t know the effect of what they’re doing. I also donated most of my comic books and art books to the Goethe-Institut Sudan. I think it’s the only comic book library in Africa.
AD: Ultimately, what do you want to achieve?
KA: I want to have a community that understands and to help artists be part of it. I want to see a community or be part of a community that allows us to have freedoms of speech and expression. For that to happen, you need artists to push these narratives. We need representation and different thoughts. We need people to accept different ideas. It’s all about creating the conversation, learning from each other, asking questions, and arguing. There’s all these studies online that no one changes their mind at all because it’s echo chambers. It doesn’t matter what you say, write, or post. When you meet real people outside of the internet is when real change happens. This is what I’m hoping for—that we try to bring art back to the people. With the fund, we try to fund artists to keep working, to keep resisting. With the library, to provide resources. And with the books, to showcase it.
AD: What do you think the future holds for you?
KA: I love the projects that I’m working on. FADAA has huge potential to change the art world. This is really what I’m hoping to start working on—gathering a team, getting some funds, start working on it, and have people who believe in it. I was lucky enough to have people who believed in me and that’s what I want to do for other people. I want to be that person that believes in other people so they can go on and do the same thing. I love to work in projects and help other people and work with different people from different parts of the world. We need to focus on building a network, building ourselves, and solidarity. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. Solidarity.
All drawings courtesy of Khalid Albaih
