At UBUNTU gallery, the “Bahagigo & Co” exhibition – celebrating the work of cartoonists Bahgat Othman (1931 - 2001) and Badr Hamada (1935 - 2000) – opened on 6 December. Bahgat Othman (1931 - 2001), known as Bahagigo among his peers was born in Cairo, in 1931. In primary and secondary school, his art teachers took an interest in his drawings, and persuaded him to join the Faculty of Arts. He enrolled in the the Department of Sculpture and graduated in 1954. After graduation, he started making cartoons for Al-Masaa newspaper, as well as Rose Al-Yousef and Sabah ElKheir magazines. Othman loved the art of caricature and believed it had the potential to change the world. But he soon realized that communicating with children was more meaningful, so he turned to children's drawings, and illustrated many children's books that received international acclaim. He wrote and illustrated the children's book The Charter of the Rights of the Child, in cooperation with UNICEF in Beirut, Lebanon. Othman won many prizes ffrom many countries including Syria, Tunisia, Algeria and Germany. In his own country, he was awarded Best Children's Book Illustrator (Children's Literature Prize - 2001) and the Excellence Award (Children's Literature Prize - 2002). The exhibition is on until 2 January.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 10 December, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
