Palestine in Black and White

By Mohammad Sabaaneh. Published by Saqi. 

Softcover, 128 pages, B&W, 2018. 

Palestine in Black and White is an intimate and powerful portrayal of life under occupation from one of the most talented cartoonists working today.

Mohammad Sabaaneh has gained worldwide renown for his black and white sketches. His stark geometric figures and landscapes are rich with Palestinian visual traditions and symbols, while his haunting figures depict a vivid perspective of the occupation.

This first collection brings together one hundred of Sabaaneh’s most striking works, including cartoons that portray the experience of Palestinian prisoners, drawn while Sabaaneh himself was detained in an Israeli prison. The drawings do not flinch from revealing the reality that confronts Palestinians, from Israel’s injustices in the West Bank to their military operations on Gaza.

‘Palestine in Black and White is an intense communication of Palestinian life; bludgeoned, displaced, yet still resisting.’
Middle East Monitor

‘Narrates real stories of Palestinians’
The Daily Star Lebanon

‘The cartoons themselves cry out for a different future where both occupied and occupier can break out of their current patterns and frames, past walls and ribbons, into a freer life.’
Qantara

‘Each of Mohammad Sabaaneh’s powerful drawings is like a gut punch that gets straight to the essence of the stark reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. This is how an artist resists.’
Joe Sacco

‘Despite working at a very complicated crossroads of ideology and political pressures, Mohammad Sabaaneh continues to produce sharp, incisive cartoons. His tenacity and courage is an inspiration for cartoonists around the world.’
Matt Wuerker, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist at Politico

‘If you want to get a smart Palestinan’s view of what’s happening in the Middle East, you can’t do better than look at Mohammad Sabaaneh’s cartoons—they tell you more than words can say.’
Victor Navasky, The Nation

‘Incisive artwork … multi-layered.’
Mint Press News