A smiling portrait of Charlie Chaplin, a satirical drawing of the Ottoman Empire leaving the Middle East to the Europeans and a cartoon featuring King Fouad (r. 1922-36) occupy the walls of the Ubuntu Art Gallery in Cairo, a snippet of the array of topics covered by Egyptian cartoonists over more than a century. Ubuntu has chosen to end the decade on a funny note with “Caricature,” an exhibition of 220 cartoons by 78 Egyptian artists.
“I wanted to celebrate Egyptian caricature at a time when cartoonists are having a hard time finding jobs,” said Samir Abdelghany, who curated the exhibit and is a cartoonist himself.