Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to meet a lot of cartoonists around the world. This comes initially from my association with the group, Cartooning For Peace, a group started by French cartoonist Jean Plantu. Check out their website and FB page to learn more about what the organization does. It’s wonderful.

An added benefit of my international connections is that I have met a number of women who draw cartoons from such diverse countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland…and more.  They are generous, funny, warm people, and I am working on various projects that involve them. I have found that while our situations may be different in our respective countries, we all share a certain understanding about the plight of women. Many of these women endure hardships that are difficult for us in the U.S. to understand, and even drawing cartoons for them is not a safe thing. But by collaborating, we can discover our similarities and our differences.

The first event I write about today is an exhibition I curated at Omega Institute on the occasion of their Women and Power Conference this weekend. The women are:  Marlene Pohl (Germany) , Firoozeh Mozaffari (Iran), Rasha Mahdi (Egypt), Caroline Ruz (Switzerland) Hana Hajjar (Saudi Arabia), Piyale Madre (Turkey), Cathy Wilcox (Australia), Ana von Rebeur (Argentina), Xia (China), Nishida Toshiko (Japan), Cintia Bolio (Mexico).  It is twelve women’s drawings about the issue of women around the world. I share a few with you here: