Ahmad Nady

Ahmad Mohammad Nady is an Egyptian political cartoonist, comic artist and activist. Belonging to a family of artists, Nady began his career early on, steadily rising to become one of the best known comic artists in Egypt at a young age. He has drawn political cartoons since an early age, and since the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, has become increasingly active in this area of work, garnering a significant reputation for the boldness of his work.

Biography

Background Nady was born on December 31, 1981, into a family of artists. His father, Mohammad Nady, was a cartoonist and his mother, Iman Ezzat, is a sculptor and writer. In addition to his parents, Nady has cited his childhood and upbringing in the 10th of Ramadan City as an early influence in becoming an artist. As a child, he was an avid reader of comic books and magazines and he would occasionally create comics about his relatives, basing his characters on their features.

Over time, this became a hobby with his father acting as mentor. He drew caricatures of schoolmates and teachers. Among his first comic characters was the "Amazing Mido" ( Mido al-'Ajeeb), a young inventor who was subjected to radiation that allowed him to easily control and change his shape and form.

According to Nady, his first published cartoon was political. The cartoon was made during the Gulf War, while Nady was in elementary school, and it portrayed Sindbad hitting Saddam Hussein on the head, saying, "You've made the children of the world hate me now that they know I'm an Iraqi." In 1992, at barely 11 years of age, he won his first award in a workshop at the Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum. The following year, he was given the best caricature award by a caricature magazine.

Nady joined the 2011 revolution from the very beginning, participating politically at Tahrir Square and drawing cartoons on the spot, inviting those around him to suggest ideas and captions.

When asked about what should be done with National Democratic Party headquarters set on fire during the 2011 revolution, Nady praised the idea of turning the headquarters into a centre that holds cultural activities, saying, "It should be a place for workshops of all artistic fields inviting all artists from all over Egypt".

Awards and honors Local recognition Merit certificate of Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum Workshop, 1992. Prize for the best caricature in caricature magazine, 1993.

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