Caricaturist Nedal Deep’s “Brush against Terrorism” Depicts Syrians’ Suffering under War

Caricature, like other kinds of art, has a cultural and media mission aiming at depicting the social and economic problems of people in any society, so caricaturists feel it is their national duty to shed light on these problems and try through their artistic works to propose solutions.

 In his new exhibition “Brush against Terrorism”, which is currently held at the Arab Cultural Center in Abou Rummaneh, Syrian caricaturist Nedal Deep tries to depict the Syrian people’s humanitarian and social suffering because of the ongoing global war on Syria and the crimes perpetrated by the armed terrorist groups amid the deadly silence of the international community.

The five-day exhibition, which was opened on Sunday under the patronage of Culture Minister Issam Khalil and which will continue till Thursday, displays 65 caricature works expressing the artist’s brave attempt to uncover the foreign-backed terrorist aggression on Syria, the false “Arab Spring” and the West’s claims on democracy and freedom.

The caricatures focus on the involvement of Turkey and some Arab regimes including Saudi Arabia and Qatar in supporting terrorist groups in Syria. They highlight the crimes committed by the terrorists of Daesh (ISIL), the silence of the international community towards these crimes, the anti-Syria misleading media campaigns and the heroism of the Syrian Arab Army in the battle against terrorism.

The Syrians are open-minded People with deeply-rooted civilization

Interviewed by the “Syria Times” e-newspaper, Deep said he wanted through his caricatures to convey a message stressing that “the Syrians, are educated and open-minded people with deeply-rooted civilization and who refuse to be exploited for political purposes.”

“It is our duty, as artists, to convey this cultural message to the world, and to use our culture as a weapon to defeat the conspiracy,” Deep added, stressing the role the art of caricature can play in this respect.

“The foreign-backed terrorists kill and destroy in Syria to help the West dominate the country’s resources. They wanted Syria to return to the Stone Age, but this won’t happen because the Syrians have strong determination to keep defending the homeland against evil schemes,” the artist said.

Art can be a weapon to defend the homeland

“Media has been one of the basic tools of the war on Syria, so we have to face this war by the same tool,” he said, stressing that art can be an important media weapon to defend the homeland.

According to Deep, caricature is more effective than other kinds of plastic arts, because it draws people’s suffering in simple ironic and touching ways.

The artist, who hailed the ministry’s support for his works, revealed that there is a plan to hold the exhibition in other Syrian provinces and hoped it will also be held abroad later.

Born in 1974, Nedal Deep started his artistic career at early childhood. He started painting at the age of six and at nine he held his first exhibition at school. In his teenage, the artist used to follow the Surrealist school in painting, but in 1995 he decided to move to caricature.

He held many exhibitions in Syria and abroad including Lebanon, Italy, Poland and several other European countries. He worked in many Syrian and Arab newspapers as well as TV channels including “al-Jazeera”, which he left at the very beginning of the crisis for its anti-Syria inciting role.

 Hamda Mustafa