Amid carnage in Gaza, artists express solidarity #WithHandala campaign

As the bombing of Gaza continues, artists around the world have been expressing their solidarity by drawing their own versions of an iconic Palestinian cartoon.

Handala, a 10-year-old boy who is barefoot and dressed in tattered clothing, was created Palestinian cartoonist Naji al Ali as a reflection of his own childhood refugee experience and those of others displaced by the nakba.

In December, Japanese artist Mariko Matsushita, cartoonist Tokushige Kawakatsu and photographer Zohre Miha launched a #WithHandala campaign on X, urging cartoonists to draw characters with their backs turned, as they symbolically stand with Handala.

The trio said they were inspired by a November 2023 effort by Italian artist Francesca Ghermandi and independent publishing house Eris Edizioni calling on artists to do something similar while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement, the artists added, "The ruthlessness of Israel, the hypocritical United States, the self-serving Arab ruling class. Author Naji Al Ali borrowed the perspective of a boy named Handala and quietly and bitterly left Palestinian anger in the form of a single newspaper cartoon."

When Handala was first published in a Kuwaiti newspaper in 1969, he was drawn with his face showing. But in 1973, al-Ali began drawing him with his back turned to symbolise how the world turned its back on Palestinians.

The cartoonist once explained, "I drew him as a child who is not beautiful; his hair is like the hair of a hedgehog who uses his thorns as a weapon…His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to us the American way."

He added that Handala will not grow up until the Israeli occupation ends.

Al-Ali was shot by an unknown assailant in London in 1987, and died from his wounds a month later at age 50 years old.

Now, as a new generation of artists rally around Handala amid growing global calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, their work serves as a reminder that Handala - and the Palestinian people - do not stand alone.