Artist Spotlight: _Z_

_Z_: the alias screams its possessor’s anonymity, an anonymity that protects the artist who bears it. _Z_ lives in Paris and works as an architect, but outside of his professional life makes political cartoons and runs a well-read blog. He operates amid a turbulent Tunisian government that uses Islam as a means of control and censored all anti-establishment propaganda prior to the Arab Spring. _Z_ came to Harvard this past week to talk with students from the Center of Middle Eastern Studies and the Graduate School of Design.

The Harvard Crimson: What first motivated you to draw political cartoons?

_Z_: Political issues have always been very close to my heart. I began [drawing cartoons] by criticizing a big real estate project commissioned by Dubai. It was like a UFO—it had nothing to do with the roots, the cultural or the social history of the city in which it was being built.

THC: How has your approach changed over time?

_Z_: I changed my style to access the larger public—not a technical public of urbanists. I attack directly the political system and the dictatorship[, because] all the big decisions [in Tunisia] are made without democratic consultation.

THC: Before starting your blog, did you have any initial hesitations?

_Z_: Of course…. In Tunisia we have the custom [of not speaking] out on the Internet because we have a long history of [repression of] cyber-activism.

THC: What social or political issue do you consider to be most significant in Tunisia?

_Z_: After the revolution, when Islam took power, the social issues changed. Now they use religion to censor [the people], so I attack religion as a political and social tool, and that’s why it can be very violent.

THC: What thematic message do you enjoy drawing about most?

_Z_: Coexistence…. I defend the idea that maybe one day in Tunisia we can live with or without religion, with or without social problems where one majority imposes their laws onto the minorities.

THC: Do you plan to find other mediums through which you can challenge political establishments?

_Z_: Well, unfortunately, I cannot use my ideas in architecture, because architecture is very functional, but one day I hope to start a satirical newspaper with cartoons. But I am still anonymous because in Tunisia we don’t have guarantees in the constitution to be protected. For example, in the first article of the constitution, it is written that Islam is the religion of the state—so anything that is against Islam is against the state. Thus, I am not sure that the law would be on my side should a problem arise.

THC: How do you think the general public receives your ideas?

_Z_: I don’t pretend to make my own politics. My idea is to be in the counter-powers, a civic group of control over the media, but in an artistic way, of course. I am not here to make reports. We say that cartoonists are the thermometers of freedom—that’s why provocation is also a way to test the limits. Through my anonymity, I have the opportunity to push them.