Cartoon by Stavro Jabra from 1 April, 2002, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon transforming into Adolf Hitler.
Stavro Jabra, best known under his shortened pseudonym Stavro, was a Lebanese cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and photographer, whose political drawings could be seen in various local Lebanese papers, but were also published in foreign news magazines. His work mostly focused on political events in the Middle East.
Cartoon from 23 November, 2003, satirizing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's uncritical support of U.S. President George W. Bush, Jr.
Life and career
Stavro Jabra was born in 1947 in Beirut. He debuted twenty years later as a caricaturist in Lebanese newspapers. Jabra's political cartoons appeared in magazines like As-Sayad, L'Orient-le Jour, Az-Zamane, Samar, As-Safa, Al-Mouharer, Al-Anwar, Al-Ahrar, Sada-Lubnan, Horoscope, Flash, Chabaka. Al- Jeich, Ad-Dastour, Al-Jarida, Sketch, Al-Hasna, Le Beyroutin, Sawt wa Soura, Magazine, Al-Ousbouh al-Arabi, Al-Kifah al-Arabi, Al-Amal, Le Réveil, Ad-Dawliya, Majalati, Mondanité, Estejwab, Chronique, Nida al-Watan and The Daily Star. His work also ran in foreign news magazines such as Punch, Atlas World Press, L'Express, Le Monde, Le Courrier International, J'Informe, Jeune Afrique, Economia, Der Spiegel, Die Weltwoche, Il Giornale, The Washington Times and The New York Times. He published 16 books. His work has been exhibited all across the world from Canada, Germany, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Malta to Romania, Yugoslavia, France, China and Switzerland.
Cartoon from 25 March 2010, depicting US President Barack Obama negotiating with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photography career
Apart from drawing, Stavro was also active as a press photographer. The French magazine 'Photo' honored him as one of the best in his field to capture the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1985) in pictures. During the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, he exhibited his photographs at the Centre Culturel Français de Jounieh. His work was published in Paris Match, Photo and Photo Reporter. In 1983, he founded his own monthly magazine, Scoop, which mostly featured his own non-political photographs. He also established the Lebanese Press Photographers Syndicate and functioned as its president emeritus in 1992. During the 1997 Beirut Film Festival he was a jury member.
Recognition
In 2001-2002, Jabra won the Golden Web Award. He also received trophies in 2004 and 2006 at the Arab Media Festival. Jabra earned respect from the United Nations, who nominated him as a "Friend of the UN". When the Palais des Nations Unies in Geneva organized the exhibition "Cartooning for Peace" in 2007, he was one of the participants.
Final years and death
Between 2001 and 2007, Stavro gained local fame in Lebanon for contributing to the daily news show on New TV. He died in 2017 after an illness.
Self-portrait of the author.