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Ohannes Şaşkal

Known as Ohan, Ohannes Şaşkal was born in Istanbul in 1959. Following the first two years of his primary education at Hürriyet Primary School in Amasya, Turkey where he spent his childhood, he completed primary school at Nersesyan Armenian Primary School – which is now gone forever – in Halıcıoğlu, Istanbul, as a boarding student. He completed his high-school education at Surp Haç Armenian High School in Üsküdar, Istanbul, again as a boarding student. In 1982, he graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy of Istanbul University. His journey as a caricaturist started in 1977. His first caricature was published at Cumhuriyet newspaper in 1978. Until 12 September 1980, his caricatures appeared in various newspapers, like Cumhuriyet, Dünya and Demokrat, as well as numerous arts and culture magazines; between 1989–1990, he drew cartoons for the weekly Sokak magazine, and for many years, for the daily Armenian newspaper, Marmara. His caricature booklet bkz. (see) published in 1997 was followed by his caricature album Karakutu (Black Box), published by Aras Publications in 2001. In 2008, he held an exhibition with Ümit Kartaloğlu in Paris, France commemorating Hrant Dink, around the themes of ‘migration–integration–assimilation’, and the album of this exhibition titled Le Chiendent (Quack Grass) was published in 2007. The caricature album of his exhibition Placebo at the Schneidertempel Art Gallery was published by Aras Publications in 2010. Ohannes Şaşkal continues to translate poems from Armenian into Turkish, work as a pharmacist, and to draw cartoons for the weekly Agos newspaper.