Mana Neyestani
Mana Neyestani (* 1973 in Tehran ) is an Iranian comic artist , illustrator and designer and belongs to the Azeri , the Azerbaijani- speaking population group in Iran. He worked in Iran for various newspapers, magazines and websites. He is best known today for his drawings in Zan magazine and on the Iranian exile broadcaster Radio Zamaneh .
He is considered "one of the most important political cartoonists in Iran". Mana's brother Touka Neyestani is also a comic artist, her father Manouchehr was a well-known Iranian poet. Neyestani currently lives in Paris with his wife.
biography
Mana Neyestani went to Motahary High School in Tehran with a focus on mathematics and physics and in 1998 obtained a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of the Arts in Tehran.
In 1990 he began drawing comics and cartoons for the monthly magazine San'ate Haml-o-Naghl . He then published his illustrations and cartoons for years in various magazines and newspapers, including many reformist ones such as Asr-e-Azadegan , Sobh-e-Emrooz , Mosharekat , Azad , Neshat and Aftab-e-Emrooz .
The first collection of his caricatures was published as a book under the title Lachen is not forbidden in 2000 and his first comic, Das Gespensterhaus, in 2001 . In the same year, Neyestani began working as a film critic and illustrator for a children's magazine.
In 2005 he drew the storyboard for an Iranian film called Who Killed Amir?
The Iranian Cockroach Cartoon Controversy
On May 12, 2006, a cartoon by Neyestani in the youth pages of an Iranian newspaper caused an uproar among the Azeri because the cartoon showed an Azeri- speaking cockroach. The said word came “originally from Azerbaijani-Turkish, but it also means 'Please' in everyday Farsi”, explains the illustrator.
The misunderstanding caused sometimes violent unrest in the Azeri-dominated cities of Tabriz , Urmia , Zanjan and Naghadeh and went down in history as the “Iranian cockroach cartoon controversy”. According to Amnesty International, "hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested and several protesters killed by the security forces." There were various rumors and statements about interference by foreign forces, namely the CIA, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Neyestani and his editor-in-chief Mehrdad Ghasemfar were arrested as a result of the unrest and the magazine was banned. The two spent 50 days in solitary confinement in Evin Prison and the illustrator apologized in writing, but had to flee to Malaysia with his wife.
In exile
In 2009 he began to process his imprisonment in his first graphic novel An Iranian Nightmare . After his Kafkaesque experience, the black and white work can also be understood as a black-humored satire on Franz Kafka's figure Gregor Samsa and today's Iran: "Anyone in Iran who thinks he has a private life or a right to freedom is considered an oppositionist." was published in France in 2012 and received much praise for his amused distance, tragicomedy and sensitivity, and Plantu , cartoonist for Le Monde , made his place available to Neyestani for a day; Neyestani's famous compatriot Marjane Satrapi also rates Neyestani highly: “He is a very good artist”.
In Malaysia, he obtained an MA in visual design from the University of Malaya and also drew for the Internet magazines Radiozamaneh and Mardomak . After three years in Malaysia, he was able to migrate to France in 2010 thanks to the organization Reporters Without Borders .
Neyestani is a guest author of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) in Paris . Neyestani is still one of the most popular cartoonists in Iran and has 135,000 friends on his Facebook page.
style
Neyestani's drawing style is reminiscent of George Grosz and Otto Dix . “I admire Grosz,” says the draftsman himself and mentions Brad Holland and the Argentine cartoonist Quino as other role models .
Works
- Laughing is not forbidden, cartoon collection, 2000
- political cartoons for Radiozamaneh , since 2008
- The Haunted House, 2001
- Mr. Ka's Love Puzzle, 2004
- Dargir family, comic series, Mardomak , since 2009
- An Iranian Nightmare, Edition Moderne, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-03731-106-6
- The Spider of Mashhad, Edition Moderne, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-03731-177-6
Awards (selection)
- Special Courage Award (Cartoonists Rights Network International), 2010
- Honorary diploma (7th international cartoon competition, Tehran), 2005
- best editorial cartoonist (6th Festival of the Iranian Press, Tehran), 2000
- Honorary diploma (4th international cartoon competition, “Football”, Tehran), 1999
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Alex Rühle: With luck: prison. In conversation: Mana Neyestani. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 1, 2010, accessed December 31, 2016 .
- ↑ Satire, cartoon. (No longer available online.) In: iranian.com. June 2, 2006, archived from the original on January 2, 2017 ; accessed on December 31, 2016 (with a link to the newspaper page with the cartoons). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Matthew Collin: Iran Azeris protest over cartoon. In: news.bbc.co.uk. May 28, 2006, accessed January 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Amnesty Report index MDE 13/078/2008. (PDF) WP 158/08. Amnesty International , June 5, 2008, accessed December 31, 2016 .
- ↑ Foreign plots and cockroaches in Iran Asia Times Online of June 8, 2006
- ^ "Une métamorphose iranienne", de Mana Neyestani. In: Le Monde . February 16, 2012, accessed January 1, 2017 (French).
- ↑ Cartooning for Peace: Mana Neyestani. In: cartooningforpeace.org. Retrieved January 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Facebook, last accessed March 16, 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Neyestani, Mana |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Iranian comic book artist, illustrator and designer and belongs to the Azeri |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1973 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tehran |