Some people think caricature in newspapers is just like any other kind of art, maybe simply seeing the drawing and paying no attention.
Caricature is about drawings accompanied with small comments, but has large meanings either to mock or criticize.
"This prestigious art is occupying a leading place in the Gulf press and is so powerful that it matches caricatures in international press," said Abdullah Al-Marzouq, a Saudi caricaturist, who works in Al-jazeera daily.
He said the internet “has largely helped in spreading the caricature.”
"This enabled caricature to be read in any part of the world. Fierce competition between Gulf artists added more quality to it," he added.
”A caricaturist derives his caricature from his social interaction and daily events in the community, which might attract his attention then be translated into a comic shape.”
He said some Saudi newspapers were not giving caricaturists the enough freedom and space to express themselves. The papers, he said, rather impose restrictions that tighten caricaturists' creativity.
Nasser Khamees, a caricaturist in the London-based Arabic-language Al-hayat newspaper, said this art had daily effect on daily life.
”In the old times people used to draw on stones.”
Khamees said caricature was a kind of expression to tackle social problems in a comic way, but away from psychological harm.
"This art can reflect a social case in a much clearer way than tens of articles dealing with the same case," added Khamees.
The margin of freedom, he went on, varied from one newspaper to another.
Yahya Sharif, a caricaturist in daily Okadh newspaper, said this art was remarkably developing in the Gulf press due to the increasing margin of freedom.
However, he added, caricature's influence on the society was still limited.
Sharif said the caricaturist “has to blend with the society to express the people in a more realistic way.”
He hoped specialized press in caricature would be established in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to increase competitiveness. (KUNA)
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