Political humor: memes in Egyptian painting after the revolution

ABSTRACT

Various humoristic approaches have manifested in contemporary Egyptian painting in the aftermath of the revolution. This article examines the use of memes in contemporary political painting, and why Egyptian artists started to initiate humor and laughter, even if it was cynical or bitter. It adopts a critical model for analysing humoristic paintings initially developed from the general theory of verbal humor for analysing jokes and texts.

KEYWORDS:

• Egyptian painting
• humor
• memes
• political painting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Muslim Brotherhood, is a religiopolitical organization founded by Hasan al-Banaa in Egypt, it is a community that aims the revival of Islamic Hadith as a guideline for a modern Islamic society after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It was a popular movement that flourished between 1928 and 1948 then it was banned and legalized by the government various times.

2 Art and Freedom group, an Egyptian art group, organized by George Henin in 1938, and it begun as a rejection to Fascist art, known for its manifesto ‘Long live Low Art’ that was signed by 37 members, it opposed the censorship of Klee, Kandinski and other modern art by the Nazis.

3 Vendetta, means blood feud as mentioned in Merriam Webster Dictionary, an originally Italian word that means revenge. The term Vendetta became popular after the release of the movie V for Vendetta, which is a dystopian political film, directed in 2005 by James McTeigue, based on a series by Allan More and David Lloyd and published in 1982–1983. The movie is seen as an allegory of rebellion against system oppression, and anarchists uses it to promote their aims, especially the Guy Fawkes mask that was used in the movie. The mask latter became a symbol for groups, movements and anti-establishment protests in general.

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Notes on contributors

Eman Abdou

Eman Abdou is a visual artist and an assistant professor at the painting department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Egypt. She participated in various national and international exhibitions. Eman was a researcher in BECAMI project (Belle Époque Cairo Museums Itineraries) funded by the STDF in Egypt and the AHRC in the UK. She is also an Art POWA member, the writing and publishing support network for Africa-based scholars in visual arts, Rhodes University, South Africa.