speak out...

silence kills . 2020

i worked on the illustration above for the lebanese offices of medecins sans frontieres for their #inktober2020 instagram campaign. i've never participated in any inktober activities in the past, but i made the exception on this occasion as it was for a good cause and spreading an important message.

each invited illustrator was assigned a topic to illustrate. i was assigned 'speaking out', which is one of msf's important core beliefs as an independent medical, humanitarian organisation. as msf provides medical aid and support for people in various countries in crisis, they are also vocal about their stance when disagreeing with certain views or politics when helping in a particular country. msf observe neutrality and impartiality in the name of universal humanitarian and medical aid, but neutrality is not synonymous with silence. according to dr. james orbinski, former president of msf, "we are not sure that words can save lives, but we know that silence can certainly kill".

we're seeing examples of people stepping out to voice the wrongs that are happening everywhere. it's important to speak up than stay silent, especially in these times. my illustration is inspired by these acts of speaking out, and shows how one might feel when they're not able to speak the truth. the arabic on the cage loosely translates to 'silence kills'...

thank you msf lebanon for reaching out, and i hope you're happy with the illustration. to know more about msf's approach to speaking out, head to the link here. and check out their instagram page to see the other illustrations in their campaign. i end this post with a process gif to show you where the illustration started and how it evolved into the final you see above.

hoof

hoof . 2019

late last year, i worked on a short comic that was meant to be published in an upcoming comics anthology for release some time this year. unfortunately, because of the covid situation, the publication is on hold until further notice. until then, i wanted to share with you the mini comic i worked on titled 'hoof'!

'hoof' is based off a gazelle like creature that's been in the back of my mind for some time. hoof was conceived during a comic book making workshop i was part of years ago, where i created a more child-friendly version of the character (see 'hoof & fin'). 'hoof' is this mythical creature inspired from folktales from the uae. the realm of emirati folktales is fairly new to me, and have only recently been researching it because of access to stories translated to english (in case you've forgotten, my arabic is quite bad!). there are countless stories of creatures luring in the dark, to scare children and keep them away from wandering off into the desert or away from their homes. this also goes back to the tradition of believing in spirits and djinns which is quite common.

i wanted to create a short story inspired from these local traditions of folktales and storytelling, as well as the action packed superhero comics i grew up reading. 'hoof' in short, is about not believing everything you hear. sometimes, what you're told to fear or believe is bad, might not be as bad as you think. 

i hope to develop the world of 'hoof', and create an epic comic about his adventures, where he comes from, and the colourful characters he meets along the way. i just hope i get to do it someday. until then, i hope you enjoy this short story.

off to the cultural foundation...

the cultural foundation i . 2015 (for 'emirati expressions:conventions of arts')

hello october! i am happy to announce that i'm off to abu dhabi for the next three months for an artist residency at the cultural foundation. i was supposed to start my residency earlier in the year, but between working on a few projects, which later got canceled because of the pandemic, and then the immediate lockdown, i was able to push my residency for the last three months of 2020. let's hope things don't get worse and not lead to another lockdown. 

the reason i applied to be a part of the residency was because i wanted to concentrate on making work without having to follow any briefs or exhibition themes. i've prioritised a lot of client based projects of late for the obvious reason of being financially self-sufficient. because of this, i haven't been able to focus on a studio practise that's explorative or just making work for myself. i'm hoping the residency allows for me to be playful and explore ideas and projects i have yet to come up with. i also think the residency will be a great opportunity to really have some time to myself, away from distractions of home, friends, social media and the depressing news of the world. 

i plan to share my artist residency experience, as well any projects that come my way. the next three months should be exciting, so stay tuned.