Jordanian artist sketches social concerns in cartoons

AMMAN — “An artist is also a social observer who can interpret social phenomena and share his political views,” said Jordanian cartoonist Ibrahim Alawamleh.

A self-made artist, the 33-year-old combines a variety of visual arts including cartoons, comics, calligraphy, mixed media, photo-collage and digital design to create visually challenging and unconventional art pieces.

“Cartoons have always been my passion,” Alawamleh told The Jordan Times recently, adding: “I was born to a family of historians and art enthusiasts and, when I started drawing at the age of six, I quickly found myself drawing all times, even until this very day.”

While he used to read comics and watch cartoons to find ideas, he said he now draws his inspiration from anything surrounding him. “I read, I explore, I experiment,” the illustrator said, stressing the importance of uniqueness and creativity in art. 

“Talent lays in the ability to combine those outside inspirations with your own twist and view on life, ultimately producing a line of work that is new,” Alawamleh stated.

Each artist is different, and, according to him, the colouring and visuals of one artist can easily be meddled with the technique of another. 

This intricacy of inspirations is reflected in Alawamleh’s art, which uses real-life photographs of Amman, on which he juxtaposes his own cartoons and characters. The final pieces convey a witty collage that can be interpreted in many ways. 

Although he denies taking any political stance, he explains that the audience is free to decide how they want to perceive his artwork.

 “Ultimately, I like to leave my art open to interpretation,” he said.

“My works are laden with dark comedy. I try to be as humorous as possible by adding a light twist to things,” the artist continued.

Alawamleh’s humorous artwork offers a “unique” take on social issues affecting the Jordanian people. One of his collage pieces represents a young dragon sitting atop of a building, shouting — in Arabic — “Father I’m going out to burn Amman!”

“Following the continuously ascending cost of living difficulties due to the gas and food prices hikes in Jordan, I drew this to show how overwhelmed and fed up people were becoming,” the cartoonist commented. 

“With the current situation in the region, economical obstacles and power struggles naturally affect the art scene in general and my work in particular,” Alawamleh explained.

But he said he preferred to stay away from politics, with his art pieces that focus much more on the citizens themselves. 

“Art plays a strong role in positive propaganda to spread out awareness and change perceptions, and thus social behaviour,” he explained, citing some of his projects done on environment protection and urbanism.

Another important part of his work is made up of calligraphy artwork.

A visual art subtly meddling Arabic writing and drawing patterns, calligraphy can be defined as “the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skilful manner”, according to online sources. 

For the Jordanian illustrator, the Arabic symbols provide an infinite possibility for calligraphic art. 

“I see so much original beauty in the letters themselves. The shapes, the curves and the small details of the 28 letters that compose the Arabic alphabet make it a perfect ‘material’ for art,” he explained, noting that “the distinguished and complex richness of those letters is great to play with”.

The cartoonist recently established cultural art centre FADA 317 in partnership with artists Mike V Derderian and Joseph Zakarian that seeks to help incubate local talents.

“I think the art scene in Jordan needs to be more recognised by the authorities, to encourage local talents to be more productive in our country, rather than leave overseas to feel more appreciated,” the young man commented.

“We need to focus more on the Jordanian art, so we can create an everlasting identity for our country in the international art scene. Jordan has a rich artistic culture which could and should be more recognised,” he concluded.

Alawamleh nurtures the dream of establishing schools of art for orphaned and children with disabilities in the region to help them secure livelihood as they grow up.