Meeting Ali Ferzat

The meeting with Ali Ferzat was quite interesting and inspiring. The fact that I got to know about him and his works before the talk, made more confident to attend this talk with some background knowledge. For me the subject is now clearer and I got to know better the true reasons behind his drawings. I must say that it was an honor meeting him, and feel his true passion and experiences. 

During the talk, Ferzat talked about his drawings in relation to the ongoing events and situations happening in Syria. He mostly focused his talk on the war happening in Syria rather than his drawings themselves. He seemed to be very passionate about the subject and how he express the society’s voice through the caricatures.

He is an artist who really practices what he believes in and that he wants a change to happen in his country. He also believes that by time his country will be great again and most importantly, he wants his country to be democratic (“freedom and liberty”) again. Art is a form of communication which he believes that it is more powerful than words. An interesting point he made is the comparison between him and the government, where he states that he only carries a pen which is more powerful than the weapons that the government is using. By this he is saying that he wants back the democracy and hoping for an end from the dictatorship happening in Syria. He mainly wants to give voice for the minorities and try to reach a powerful message for them. He wants everyone in the world to know about these situations. So, he is free to have anyone use his drawings in protests, magazine, anywhere. This should bring more awareness about these civil wars and hoping for a better, peaceful country to live in.

A quite catchy and powerful statement Ferzat said during the talk was that “Politicians are licking their own blood”. Honestly, I didn’t quite get what he wants to say by that statement, but I’m sure that it has a great meaning for him and his country.

During the talk he talked about when he was kidnapped, and after that incident he believes that now his drawing are more powerful than before. He talked about how only one drawing had shaken the regime that led him to be abducted and beaten almost to death, which resulted him to have some bones from his hands broken. This shows that when drawing in such way, he is constantly risking his life and he doesn’t even fear that, what all he wants is for the Syrians’ best.

I really admire him for the courage he is showing, after all he had been through, and this also gives courage to Syrian citizens, while he fearlessly still continues to critically draw against wars, corruption, mafia and dictatorship.

This talk made me realize about the situations going in Syria, which most of us might not be aware of or might take for granted. I also made some brief research on the wars happening in Syria, which I felt really devastated knowing that thousands of people had died during the previous years, and more people are still dying every day because of these civil wars. These are tragic realities happening now, in the year 2016, which I believe that it’s not acceptable when we are living in an advanced world and I really hope that such drawings will continue to have a powerful voice towards these people who are suffering physically and emotionally, the deaths, the hunger, and poverty which no human being deserve!

Reference:

Rodgers, L., Gritten, D., Offer, J. & Asare, P., 2016. Syria: The story of the conflict BBC news. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868 [Accessed 18 November 2016].