Khalid Albaih is a Sudanese cartoonist living in exile in Doha, Qatar. His stark, politically-charged images rose to prominence during the early stages of the Arab Spring protests in 2011. Posting his work in the public domain through social media, Albaih quickly became an artist of the revolution. His work was shared online—across Arabia and around the world. Albaih’s cartoons were seen online and made into stencils—to be reproduced on walls in Beirut, Cairo, Yemen, and across the Middle East. Photographs of these stencils were shared extensively, spreading Albaih’s work across the web in an emerging free space of protest. An iconic image of Hosni Mubarak with the word Egypt in juxtaposition, now Albaih’s most noted work, was displayed prominently in Tahrir Square during the height of the protests that eventually toppled the Mubarak regime. It was stenciled there by an anonymous graffiti artist.

In November of 2014, McGill University hosted Khartoon! By Khalid Albaih, a three-day series of exhibitions and events honoring the artist’s work, coupled with multiple interviews for radio, television, and print. Later in the month, Albaih was a featured presenter at the Arab Future and the Role of Europe conference at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Albaih’s work is currently used by revolutionary groups in his native Sudan and by political activists in Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Syria, and Algeria. He has been profiled by the BBC, Al Jazeera, and the New York Times. He has published his work extensively around the world, in the Atlantic, Global Voices, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, to name only a few. He was recently interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC national radio. Alongside worldwide attention and major publications, Albaih has staged major exhibitions of his work, most recently in Montreal, London, and Bahrain. Following the January terror attacks in Paris, Albaih was interviewed by CNN, BBC, ABC, Al Jazeera, and Huffington Post within a twenty-four hour period.

Albaih currently works at the Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) where he is Head of Installation and Design. Khalid Albaih is a true new media artist, constantly publishing new works on his Facebook page Khartoon (a play on Khartoum, the Sudanese capital) for all to consider, use, and share.

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