Eaten Fish with broadcaster Libby Purves
The Surreal McCoy writes:
With great emotion and delight PCO welcomed Ali Dorani (Iranian cartoonist aka Eaten Fish) to Westminster Reference Library last Friday. Our patron, the wonderful Libby Purves, was there to host the event. She later remarked on her Twitter feed “He is astonishing. Fragile but warm, an original thinker, self aware and witty.”
Artwork © Eaten Fish
In front of a full and captivated house Ali told his story, illustrated with the cartoons he drew whilst in the refugee camp and afterwards. He described how it felt to see the #addafish shoal drawn by cartoonists he had idolised as a child – they gave him heart that the world hadn’t forgotten about his plight – and thanked the PCO for spearheading the campaign.
Artwork © Eaten Fish
Ali also talked about how Edvard Munch’s ‘Scream’ had always resonated with him, especially in the worst times of his ordeal on Manus. Ali commented that little did he know he’d end up in the country of Munch’s birth.
Ali was brought over for the event by International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) who were key in getting him out of Manus Refugee Internment camp. He is currently an artist in residence in Stavanger. He’s really interested in film making and it’s something he’d like to explore in future. Ali told about his obsession with the film of ‘Lord of The Rings’ when he was young; he watched it over and over again. When he was interviewed by Australian immigration he said one reason he wanted to come to Australia was he hoped to meet Peter Jackson. The officer said ‘that’s New Zealand not Australia’, Ali responded ‘yes but he does have a big office in Melbourne’.
The PCO is looking forward to working with Ali on other campaigns in the future, we’ll keep you posted!
You can follow Ali on facebook