Zeina Abirached (born 1981 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

) is a Lebanese illustrator, graphic novelist and comic artist. She studied at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA and the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profil ...

. Her books are based on autobiographic narratives related to her childhood within the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

Work

Zeina Abirached was born in 1981 and was raised in a war-torn Beirut. In 2002, she produced a little comic book composed of black and white drawings within the

Atelier de Recherche ALBA Atelier de Recherche ALBA (Research Workshop ALBA) is a trans-disciplinary structure in the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA, created and curated by Pierre Hage Boutros, Rana Haddad and Gregory Buchakjian. History Atelier de Recherche was ...

. Her training as a commercial designer brought a decorative approach and inventive graphic solutions to her black-and-white comics. She later moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and continued producing comics based on individual and collective memory and on archival documents. She finds her inspiration in old photographs and TV footage, and in the work of comic authors such as

David B David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and

Jacques Tardi Jacques Tardi (; born 30 August 1946) is a French comic artist. He is often credited solely as Tardi. Biography Tardi was born on 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. After graduating from the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon and the Éco ...

. Abirached's memoir ''Mourir, partir, revenir - Le Jeu des hirondelles'' was the first graphic novel to be awarded the FACE French Voices Grant for publication of a contemporary French-language work in English, given by the

PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate Freedom of speech, free expression in the United States and worldwide through the ad ...

and the French Embassy. It was published by the Graphic Universe division of

Lerner Publishing Group Lerner Publishing Group, based in Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota since its founding in 1959, is one of the largest independently owned children's book publishers in the United States. With more than 5,000 titles in print, Lerner Publi ...

in 2012 under the title ''A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return.'' Through her works, she portrays not just the memoirs of the civil war in Lebanon, but also reclaims a history that has been either ignored by official accounts of the war or been forgotten completely. Her black and white artwork resembles the tones of

Arabic calligraphy Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. It is known in Arabic as ''khatt'' ( ar, خط), derived from the word 'line', 'design', or 'construction'. Kufic is the oldest form of th ...

. ''I remember Beirut,'' one of her graphic novels which have been translated into English, was inspired by the famous French author

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Holoc ...

Publications

* Le piano oriental (

Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller or ...

, 2015) * Agatha de Beyrouth (Cambourakis, 2011) * Je me souviens (Cambourakis, 2009) * Mourir, partir, revenir - Le Jeu des hirondelles (Cambourakis, 2007) traduction : A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return (Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group, 2012) * 38, rue Youssef Semaani (Cambourakis, 2006) * Beyrouth Catharsis (Cambourakis, 2006)

References

External links

Editions Cambourakis: Zeina AbirachedGraphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group: A Game for Swallows
*
Zeina Abirached on Remembering and Forgetting Beirut
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abirached, Zeina 1981 births Lebanese comics artists Lebanese female comics artists Lebanese women illustrators Lebanese illustrators Artists from Beirut Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Lebanese emigrants to France Lebanese women artists Lebanese contemporary artists