Hani Abbas


30 March 2013

Hani Abbas is a cartoonist of Palestinian origin. He was born in Damascus in 1977. His works were published in the Abu Dhabi-based Al-Wahda newspaper and Syrian Al-Nahda newspaper. He received three awards from the United Nations when he was in preparatory school. He graduated from First Teachers College in Damascus in 1999, and then worked as an elementary school teacher in the city. He has been a member of the Syrian Fine Arts Association since 1999.

Abbas held more than fifteen individual exhibitions entitled "Shakhabir Siyasah" and more than five joint exhibitions with Syrian and Arab painters. He ranked first in the category of professional painters in Syria in the political caricature competition focused on the 2003 Iraqi conflict. Abbas’s works are dominated by the Palestinian struggle and human rights at the Arab and international levels. He is particularly interested in exposing social and political hypocrisy. His interests are reflected on his Facebook page, where he answered a question about his favorite word with "love.” His artwork varies from political critique and heresy, to that of a humanitarian and social basis.  He sometimes even draws fantasy-based caricatures.

On the second anniversary of the revolution, Mar. 15, 2013, Abbas wrote on his Facebook page, "Return your knives and plates to your kitchens, gentlemen. The cake that has been in the oven for two consecutive years burned, charred and turned to ash. It is only Syrian women who can deal with this ash and plant their roses in it until they bloom again."

In criticism of Arab inaction during the 2012 Israel-Gaza conflict, Abbas posted a comment on the Moscow News website on Nov. 19, 2012. He said the Arab position was strange, as “everybody in the Arab League cries over Gaza, and none of them boasts the victories of the resistance.”

Columnist Ammar Hasan wrote about Abbas in Al-Nahda Newspaper on Oct. 23, 2011, describing his work as “the art of repeated beatings on the solid heads, or the art of burning the blurred eyes that do not want to see.” According to Hasan, Abbas’s work is distinctive due to "the simplicity and stenography of the cartoon that does not overweigh the idea at the basis of the visual, intellectual and critical message, which he wants to convey to the viewer. It largely reflects Hani as a Palestinian man living for a cause that has taken over his mind and art.”

Hani Abbas’ Facebook page.

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