Growing up outside his home country of Sudan, Khalid Albaih spent his childhood reading Belgian comics, from Tintin to the Smurfs. As a teenager, he then discovered political cartoons in Arabic through his father’s magazines from Egypt, fascinated to see himself and the Arab word represented in the art form he loved. “I was fascinated by how they talked openly about issues we were supposed to only whisper about. They expertly maneuvered through red lines,” he recalls.
He set about copying his favourite cartoonists’ work and eventually, a few years before the Arab Spring, he started posting his own original work online. His cartoons quickly became popular. “My drawings were not a typical political cartoon. They had more graphic elements catering to new generations. That’s why they gained traction.”
For the past eight years, Khalid has published one cartoon per day, all under a Creative Common licence so that people are free to share and reuse them. Some of his work is made to easily become a stencil that can be used in street art.
His cartoons discuss political developments in Sudan during the ongoing devasting civil war, and in the whole MENA region. “I live on the internet, so cartoons don’t have a border,” he says.
Growing up in a very politicised family, with relatives supporting a broad range of political parties, he saw that the one thing they all had in common was the desire to create a conversation to work towards democracy in the region. He believes his cartoons are his contribution to that conversation. Unfortunately, it is a contribution that was seen as unwelcome by the Sudanese government, who saw him as a threat.
Several years ago, Khalid was forced to enter a journalist protection programme, eventually obtaining asylum in Denmark. Now living between Qatar and Norway, he continues to advocate for human rights in Sudan through cartoons and articles published by international outlets, from Al Jazeera to the Guardian.
He explains that he is committed to raising a new generation of cartoonists in Sudan, giving them the spotlight on his Khartoon magazine - a wordplay between cartoon and Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Many young artists from Sudan are either internally displaced or refugees, spread around the continent. As Khalid already managed an online platform, he has been able to gather Sudanese cartoonists in one place online and to give them a livelihood through their work. “I came from a privileged background, so I wanted to pay it forward and help young cartoonists,” he says,
In 2019 he launched a cartoon competition for emerging artists. “People submitted really amazing cartoons - even some who had never done a cartoon before. They lacked opportunities and means, not the talent,” he says.
The competition was repeated multiple times and evolved into a residency programme for young artists giving them opportunities to develop and promote their work. The initiative also plays an important role in informing a wider audience about the situation in Sudan, addressing a vacuum of reliable information at a time of war.
“We Sudanese need the world to know what’s going on. We do not want to be reduced to a small article on the fifth page of a newspaper. Those young cartoonists are chronicling their daily lives, how they are being displaced, and are writing our history.”
Khartoon has also partnered with Sudanese War Monitor, an independent media working on longer form articles and analyses that are complemented by the work of cartoonists.
Working with cartoonists inside Sudan can be complicated given intermittent internet connections. Khalid often communicates through WhatsApp. He also has to come up with innovative ways to wire them money.
EED’s support is helping Khalid grow Khartoon and to continue fostering the careers of young cartoonists working in extremely difficult circumstances. Khalid wants to build an archive of Sudanese political cartoons. “It will be a chronicle of our history and heritage that we should not lose or forget,” he says.
This article reflects the views of the grantees featured and does not necessarily represent the official opinion of the EED.
