Safaa’s cartons offer some of the most powerful and poignant images to come out of Gaza that are not photos
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, working in collaboration with celebrated Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh, is to publish Safaa and the Tent, the diary of cartoonist Safaa Odah, from Gaza, with all profits from sales going to Safaa.
Created between October 2023 and December 2024, the cartoons – some actually, originally drawn on a tent – offer “some of the most powerful and poignant images to come out of Gaza that are not photos,” in the opinion of cartoonist Joe Sacco. “They are to be found in this incredible collection of Safaa Odah’s drawings.”
“I miss my soul… where are you, my soul?”
Translated by Nada Hodali, Safaa and the Tent is the work of Safaa Odah, an animation artist and cartoonist Gaza. She holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology, and her work aims to inspire better physical and mental health. Besides appealing to a Palestinian audience her ambition is that her work touches others worldwide and leaves a positive impact.
“Silence overcame us. We become the epitome of our worries and questions, turning into a corpse overcome by silence, eyes engulfed with fear.
“How did we end up this way?
What I have come to realize is that we are not the same as before.”
Since the war on Gaza began in October 2023, Safaa has been displaced multiple times but continues to produce daily cartoons from her tent, sometimes using the tent as her canvas and posting them whenever she can on her Instagram account.
In August last year, she was told that her house was fully destroyed. “Knowing full well that none of the houses will remain standing, I was still hit by a brick with this news,” she wrote. “A home is not simply an abode to live in. It is our homeland. My home is my parents’ sacrifices, being expatriates for over 40 years… Going through that simply to build a simple home. Today, all our memories were shattered, destroyed, dispersed, maybe even buried. My story is no different than any distressed individual, or anyone who’s affected, we might just have many similarities. I have come to realize that we are walking in a dark labyrinth, a labyrinth with no borders.”
Despite her situation, alongside many others, she continued to cartoon, documenting the personal situations of thousands of displaced Palestinians impacted by the war around them.
“Safaa Odah, the Palestinian cartoonist from Gaza, stood against the brutality of genocide with unfiltered sincerity,” notes Mohammad Sabaaneh. “Through raw instinct, she dismantled the official narrative that sought to dehumanize Palestinians, turning her art into a powerful rebuttal. When paper became as scarce as bread, safety, and solace, she did not stop – her tent walls became her new canvas, bearing witness to a resilience that could not be erased.
“We, as Palestinians, know well that Naji al-Ali, the legendary cartoonist assassinated in London in 1987, also began his artistic journey on his tent wall.”
Safaa and the Tent is a voluntary collaboration between the Lakes International Comic Art Festival and celebrated Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh, with promotional support from Cartoonists Rights.
Nada Hodali is a Palestinian literary translator. Following her Bachelor’s Degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in Translation at Birzeit University, Hodali further continued her education and obtained a Master’s Degree in Translation Studies from Durham University. Hodali’s translation work has been published in ArabLit Quarterly, TBA21, Anomalous Press, as well as FIKRA Magazine.
• You can find out more about Safaa and support her on Instagram @safaa.art
• Nada Hodali’s works can be viewed on her website: nadahodali.wordpress.com
• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is online at www.comicartfestival.com | Annual Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere – Friday 26th – Sunday 28th September 2025 | Comics Can Change the World: https://comicscanchangetheworld.com
