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SAN FRANCISCO (3/27)- “I used my art to be part of this revolution,” Egyptian cartoonist Hassan Fedawy told Sfnewsfeed.us during his recent visit to San Francisco.” I didn’t mean to – no one meant to be part of anything - but it happened.”
Based in Alexandria where he teaches theatre and digital design at Alexandria University and is computer programs coordinator at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Fedawy has alsobeen churning out daily cartoons for Rose Al-Yusuf, Egypt’s long-running daily newspaper.
The prolific artist’s series of political cartoons were featured in “Breathed…Unsaid…” a recent SOMArtsCultural Center exhibition by Oakland-based curator Katya Min which featured multi-disciplinary artists exploring their personal encounters with the cultural diaspora.
In Alexandria when the Jan. 25 revolution began, Fedawy quickly made his way to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to join the massive crowd determined to overthrow the Mubarak regime.
"I carried dead people and wounded people I almost got killed many times. It is strange you don’t really feel death is a big thing. Every time you hear some whistle or see a line of smoke you know what to do."
Vividly describing the effects of being hit with teargas, he continued, "After ten hours of burning eyes and dry mouth and the vinegar napkins and onion in your nose for protection, suddenly your body stops or almost stops responding, but eventually it gets better."
“I projected my anger into my art,” he explained. “You can see in my art, three main points: poverty spreading everywhere, unjustice, and nonsense. So I was fighting these three which led me to my final revelation, which is that revolution is coming.”
Hit by rubber bullets fired by pro-Mubarak forces, Fedawy described the feeling in Tahrir Square. “We felt we were in a pilgrimage - that was my feeling facing death, facing liberty and facing God. It all came in one package. Being there and seeing that we are united with each other, we did not feel separate, we felt like one body.”
Artists in the SOMArts exhibition include Victor Cartagena, Kevin B. Chen, Taraneh Hemami, Kyoung-ah Kang’s, Alice Könitz , Keba Konte, Chris Novak, Tessie Barrera Scharaga, C. Ree, and Joel B. Tan with collaborator Nicholas Brinkley. The exhibition closes March 31 with a performance by Archana Sachdev in the style of a Bollywood dance party, and a spoken word poetry reading of historic works by Rumi.
SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 info@somarts.org(415) 863-1414.
Elaine Pasquini
Photos by Phil Pasquini
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