To attempt to encapsulate the story of the 2011 Arab uprisings and those that would follow in the years thereafter into a 150-page anthology collection of graphic memoirs is an ambitious aim. And yet it’s exactly what journalist Yazan Al-Saadi looks to do in the pages of Lebanon is Burning and Other Dispatches, Graphic Mundi’s compilation of fourteen accounts of “voices from the Middle East on the fight for self-determination.”
To facilitate this Al-Saadi has firstly collaborated with a number of artists from the regions covered – Tracy Chahwan, Ganzeer, Ghadi Ghosn, Omar Khouri, Sirène Moukheiber, Hicham Rahma, and Enas Satir – which immediately gives it a robust layer of authenticity. Secondly, each entry comes with a scene-setting text introduction to provide readers with added context for the comics to come. There’s also a kind of glossary giving key information on the coming story which includes notes on everything from creative process to topical references.
Omar Khouri
The titular despatch ‘Lebanon is Burning’ is the very first in the book. It is illustrated by Omar Khouri who employs a kind of monochromatic sketchy realism to depict the intensity of the 17 October Revolution in 2019 as the populace rose up in civil protests against economic and socio-political factors. The way in which the dispatches can use radically different art styles to communicate their messages to great effect is immediately seen in the following account ‘(in)Humanitarian Workers’ where Al-Saadi works with Hicham Rahma whose lively, jaunty cartooning is a perfect match for this analysis of the issues surrounding the oft problematic structures of humanitarian aid as a Western concept.
Hicham Rahma
Lebanon is Burning is a hugely informative primer for a better understanding of the events it reports on; a springboard if you will for the reader’s own subsequent research. The history of Bahrain, for example, as illustrated by Ghadi Ghosn, who also brings the horrors of Egyptian academic Patrick Zaki’s incarceration and torture by the Egyptian authorities to life with a distorted visual style that triggers a sense of grotesque oppression.
Ghadi Ghosn
All of these reports will be deeply affecting to their audience but some will feel particularly resonant right now. Given the genocide perpetrated by Israel over the last year in Gaza ‘Seventy Years of Catastrophe’ – another Al-Saadi/Ghosn teaming detailing the long history of ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the illegal Israeli occupation – is an especially difficult read. Palestine is also the subject of another dispatch illustrated by Sirène Moukheiber whose ever inventive and unconventional panel layouts are frankly breathtaking in delivery.
Omar Khouri
This collection acts as an excellent entry point into the issues, countries and events portrayed. From the claustrophobic art and visual metaphor of Tracy Chahwan’s art on the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon through to the impressionistic horrors of Omar Khouri’s rendering of the devastating effects of the pandemic in Lebanon, Al-Saadi’s careful curation of artistic voices to suit subject matter is exemplary. Lebanon is Burning was also nominated in the 2024 Broken frontier Awards.
Yazan Al-Saadi (W), Tracy Chahwan, Ganzeer, Ghadi Ghosn, Omar Khouri, Sirène Moukheiber, Hicham Rahma, and Enas Satir (A) • Graphic Mundi, $21.95
Review by Andy Oliver
