Imagine a Cairo where wishes are for sale in cans and bottles at the koshk on your street corner. Deena Mohamed did, and it won her Best Graphic Novel and the Grand Prize at Cairo Comix Festival in 2017. Mohamed, 25, is a comic artist, illustrator, and designer. With a uniquely Egyptian setting and authentically Cairene themes, her urban fantasy graphic novel trilogy Shubeik Lubeik is a fresh, humorous, magical, and emotive handling of the crisscrossing stories and identities that call Egypt home. “Visibly Muslim Women” Shubeik Lubeik is the most recent step in the colourful route that is Mohamed’s artistic career. Her breakthrough began with her webcomic Qahera, a web-based cartoon commenting on social issues such as Islamophobia and misogyny. The protagonist of this project — which Mohamed started as a joke on Tumblr — is a visibly Muslim female superhero named after Cairo’s Arabic name. “I don’t really consider Qahera a ‘superhero’ character so much as it [the comic] is an editorial strip – so it’s a satirical cartoon that uses the tropes of superheroism to make a point, rather than a superhero comic that addresses political issues,” … Continue reading Comic Artist Deena Mohamed on Representation, Authenticity, and Egyptian Art