Patrick Chappatte
Patrick Chappatte (known simply as Chappatte) (b. February 22, 1967, in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist known for his work for Le Temps, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Sunday edition), the German news magazine Der Spiegel, and The New York Times International Edition. He also worked as an illustrator for the New York Times and as cartoonist for Newsweek. Many of his cartoons reflect events in Swiss and international news, such as the September 11 attacks, the rise of the Swiss People's Party, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Patrick Chappatte | |
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Born | Karachi, Pakistan | February 22, 1967
Nationality | Lebanese-Swiss |
Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Pseudonym(s) | Chappatte |
Awards | Thomas Nast Award (2011, 2015) |
Spouse(s) | Anne-Frédérique Widmann |
www |
Biography
Born to a Lebanese mother and a Swiss father he was raised in Singapore and Switzerland.
Chappatte lives between Los Angeles and Geneva.
Career
Editorial cartoons
Patrick Chappatte drew a twice-weekly cartoon in the Opinion section of The New York Times International Edition, formerly known as the International Herald Tribune, which published his work from 2001 to 2019 (when the paper stopped publishing editorial cartoons altogether).[1][2]
Over the years, he has collaborated with editorial cartoonists in conflict-ridden countries with the goal of promoting dialogue through cartooning. These projects focused on Serbia, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Kenya and Guatemala.[3] He described the work in a TED talk in 2010.[4]
Comics journalism
Since 1995, Chappatte has worked in graphic journalism, or comics journalism, a genre of reporting using the techniques of graphic novels. His most recent stories covered the war in Gaza (2009), the slums of Nairobi (2010) and gang violence in Central America (2012). These reports were published in several newspapers, including the New York Times; one was turned into a short animated documentary[5] in 2011. (see below)
In May 2016, Chappatte (with his wife, journalist Anne-Frédérique Widmann) published "Inside Death Row," a five-part series published by The New York Times about the death penalty in the United States.[1]
Animated documentary
Chappatte went to southern Lebanon in 2009, where people still live with the threat of actual time bombs, in the form of cluster munition bomblets. While there, Chappatte created a report in comic-book format: Death in the Field, which was published in Le Temps. The report was released in 2011 as an animated documentary.[6] It was aired on Swiss and French TV, toured documentary festivals, and won an award in Australia. Chappatte said the process of creating the documentary was both a personal and professional endeavor. "I have a Swiss father and a Lebanese mother, so I wanted to better understand the problems that the people of Lebanon are still facing, long after the fighting stopped," he said. "I also wanted to use my craft as a cartoonist, my experience as a journalist and my sense of satire to create a new kind of prism through which to view forgotten conflicts and a new technique for revealing the humanity behind the story."
Awards
In 2011 and 2015, Chappatte won the Overseas Press Club of America’s Thomas Nast Award for best cartoons on international affairs. He is the only non-American to have won this prize.
Bibliography (English)
- Stress Test, 2011-2012: Cartoons from the International Herald Tribune (Globe Cartoon, 2012) ISBN 978-2970047551
- Signs of Recovery, 2009-2010: Cartoons from the International Herald Tribune (Globe Cartoon, 2010) ISBN 978-2970047544
- Partly Cloudy, 2007-2008: Cartoons from the International Herald Tribune (Globe Cartoon, 2008) ISBN 978-2970047520
- Globalized, 2005-2007: Cartoons from the International Herald (Globe Cartoon, 2007) ISBN 978-2970047513
- Another World, 2000-2004: Cartoons from the International Herald Tribune (Globe Cartoon, 2004) ISBN 978-2970047506
References
- Cavna, Michael. "Comics: The New York Times cuts all political cartoons, and cartoonists are not happy," Washington Post (June 11, 2019).
- Simon, Scott. "Political Cartoonist On Implications Of 'NYT' Ending Cartoons," NPR (June 15, 2019).
- Ajroudi, Asma. "Cartoonist Patrick Chappatte weighs in on free speech debate," Al Aribaya (09 February 2015).
- "The Power of Cartoons," TED (July 2010).
- "Death in the field, the film," BDreportage.com. Archived at the WayBack Machine. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2020.
- "Living with the constant threat of death in Lebanon," International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (Apr 17, 2011).
External links
- Official website
- Comics journalism by Chappatte
- Chappatte, Patrick; Widmann, Anne-Frédérique (May 2016). "Inside Death Row". The New York Times.
- Interview with Chappatte aboute the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
- Chappatte section of the New York Times website
- Patrick Chappatte at TED
— TED Talk: Patrick Chappatte: The power of cartoons (TEDGlobal 2010)