Toon out
Right to left: leading minister, services minister, regular minister, governmental minister, citizen.
Armand Homsi has spent the better part of his life speaking out through cartoons. Known mostly for his contributions to An Nahar, he never shies away from speaking his mind.
How long have you been drawing?
I've worked at An Nahar for 13 years and before that I was in France - but I wasn't drawing much there. In the '80s I worked in Commerce du Liban for about four years. I worked there while I was in college and as far as first experiences go it was great. Before that it was the school newspaper, if that really counts.
You didn't draw in France?
In Paris I worked as an interior designer, which is my actual field. I came back because of a competition that An Nahar held - I entered from Paris - and the prize was a job here. I initially started in Nahar el Shabeb but soon moved to An Nahar.
You left Paris for a competition? That's a bit romantic.
It's more that I left Lebanon in a bad way. I left in '89 and that ought to ring a bell. The war had become especially violent then and I had a job opportunity. But at some point I needed to come back, I knew all along I would. It's nice out there, for the first couple of years, a paradise perhaps. A button turns on a light, streets are clean, neat and no one thinks of politics. No one cares about politics. It's a different world but you're never really at ease.
So you're back here, but why drawing?
It's a daily cartoon and it's fun. A lot happens around here and you always have topics. What I usually do, if the headline of the day isn't a good start for an idea, is disregard it. Someone shook someone else's hand, great news, bad cartoon. I try to be close to the news. If the big story is dull, I might use the second best, or something completely different. I keep myself in the loop with news and that's how I can draw. The topics are fun to come up with and they keep me entertained.
Stairing contest
Have you ever soaked up the bohemian vibe around Gemmayzeh Stairs? Thank Joseph Raidy, the man behind its renaissance.
Translated from its original Arabic
What's your favorite place in Lebanon?
Ehden. It's my village and that of my ancestors. It's the village of patriarchs and saints.
We all know you because of the printing press, but your contribution are greater than that...
The press is a business and a culture but my role in culture also came through the Gemmayzeh Stairs, the goal of which was to bring out the more artistic side of Lebanon. I'm one of the founders and I'm currently president of its committee.
How was the Stairs project born anyway?
In the 1980s Gemmayzeh was a war zone. The residents of Gemmayzeh, myself included, got together and wanted to create something, anything, that would get the place moving again artistically and culturally. And we had that beautiful staircase. So we renovated it and started organizing events around it and carnivals. The Beirut Carnival is in fact, a product of our labor.
And your events got popular very quickly...
They were for free. You didn't have to pay to attend and you only paid a symbolic sum as an exhibiting artist, a sum that helped them take the exhibition more seriously. The artists would bring in their work, sell them and keep all the profit. But we'd take care of the artists that didn't sell.
How so?
Well, if the artist had paid $50 to exhibit and had sold nothing, we'd buy back $50 worth of his work. There were no monetary goals behind these events, we just wanted to help the many local artists launch themselves into the wide and rather difficult world of art.
And you did...
It worked, of course. You only have to look at its current fame to realize that. It's in every tourist book about the country and has received an incredible amount of media. Which is fitting.
Art attacks
Sandra Dagher believes people care about art. As director of the Beirut Art Center she tries to walk the walk by bringing art to the masses whilst supporting local talent.
Once upon a time there was Espace SD...
I studied photography in Paris; I left Lebanon when I was an infant, and I used to come here once a year or so. Then I studied visual communications in London and eventually came back to Beirut for Espace SD.
This was about eight years ago?
I came back in 2000. I felt the need to learn more about and explore my country. Espace SD was already open and managed by my cousin, but they didn't have an all year round program, it was more of a space that artists used every so often. They had other jobs and couldn't dedicate their time to it, so they proposed that I run the show; and I did, from 2000 to 2007.
And now you've moved up to Beirut Art Center, but what's different?
A lot of things are different. Espace SD was a private space, self-financed by the sales. The Beirut Art Center is a non-profit space. We don't sell anything here, that's the big difference. If the artist wants to sell he can but we don't have that commercial aspect here.
Splash some color
Cartoons are rarely serious, and that's exactly what Mazen Kerbaj counts on. While the officials ignore his work, Kerbaj is busy making a splash.
I'm looking at your portfolio here and, essentially, you do everything...
[Laughs] I define myself more as a musician than a cartoonist. It's very strange, outside of Lebanon I was known more for the music, and here I'm known for the drawings. In Lebanon I get comments like: ‘stop this shitty music that you try to do and concentrate on your drawing.' They're both natural ways of expression to me.
And you create just as much music?
Totally, we have an association and a yearly festival. It's called Irtijal, and it's hardcore experimental music, really different from anything you'll see around here. But I'm still known more for my cartoons.
I've heard some stories about your more controversial strips...
I've published everywhere, but usually I publish two or three before I end up fighting with the editors. I think it's the incompatibility of humor; there's an old generation that cannot accept what we have to offer. I hear things like: ‘our readership won't accept this kind of drawing.' But I'm part of your readership as well, and I'd like to see something like this.
So you and the censor offices are on a first-name basis?
I never get censored politically. I'm not interested in political cartoons and very rarely dabble in them. Understandably you can't talk about spring picnics when there's a war outside your window, but I'm more focused on social issues, and maybe I'm a bit harsh at that.
What about your earlier stuff? Where'd it all start?
I've been drawing for a long time but I launched with L'Orient Express, and I did a series of social criticism strips that I hate today. I mean it's bad cartoons today. But then it was in French and today I'm drawing them in Arabic.
Better?
I can make fun of more people, yes. I don't have a specific target when I draw; Lebanon gives you so much material to work with, very rich material. I also draw some experimental comics that I self publish, and I sell maybe 200 of those, tops, on a very small scale. I have a small readership with those - so small that I know them all. These days I draw the back page of Al Akhbar every Friday, all in the good tradition of social criticism. But I'm craving something new. I have three or four projects and I don't know where to start. My tiny readership awaits.
Arabia under the sheets
Photo by Hayat Karanouh
Creator of the first Middle Eastern erotic magazine Joumana Haddad flirts with danger; and danger flirts right back; ten seconds with her and you'll see why
Quick; what's the craziest thing you've done?
I'll tell you, but that certainly can't go to print.
Well, let's tone it down enough...
Well, I guess then it would be starting this magazine [Jasad]. Everyone around me thought I was crazy, at least; it wasn't the right time, and it wasn't the right place, they said. I'm already juggling so many things: I'm the cultural editor of Al Nahar, I administer the Arab Booker prize, I'm a writer myself [six books], I travel continuously and I have two kids, a 16 year-old and a 9 year-old.
So was it the right time for it?
You have to invent the right moment, you can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. You invent the moment, you create time.
Well, do you feel that people want a local magazine with nudity?
I have to insist that Jasad is not about seeing naked people. Go on the internet, go on to Google, go on to Youporn; it's far too easy to see nudity if you wanted to.
But you must admit that nudity is part of the appeal...
Definitely, but it's not only that. People thought that we have too many issue in the Arab world, and some even believe we're going backwards rather than forwards. I'm a Lebanese woman, and I've been part of Lebanon's nightlife for a while. I know what goes on, and I think it's time we got rid of the hypocrisy of it all. I think people are ready. I realize a good part of the sales is a result of curiosity, but I've been getting good feedback, and it's wonderful that I'm getting so much support. I was expecting worse.
Posts
Help me, I’m linear!
Recent love, or not
- Chirine: Are these names real? Are they? Really? Teenage years man… what WERE we thinking? (and the scarier...
- Joanna: Oh wow, I remember her. When I was a kid I used to say she was my mom. Somehow, I had lots and lots of moms....
- Agénor: Final dot missing. Also, could you translate the top cartoon, please?
- Agénor: Outstanding! Both the style and content. You asked questions and didn’t comment at the start of any...
- Joanna: Can I call you Kaal? I could never master the English “arl” sound, and I have to pronounce it the...
- Agénor: It’s not enemies of the environment that they are, it’s just that they don’t care about it,...
- Ants: I was crying of laughter! Wo Ai Ni ya Helo! hehe
- roupen: Ohhhhhh am bored so bored!
))) - Sukoon: hahaha! Wei ni hao? Oh man, at first, I thought you were just being out of control with your need to break...
- Agénor: How come your number ended in their database? Anyhow, thank you for the emotions swing. I’ve felt the...
Linearity is overrated
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