31 Oct 2020; MEMO: A Sudanese artist has refused the French Republic’s Medal of Arts and Letters due to the recent insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported on Wednesday that “the plastic artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq refused the French Republic’s Order of Arts and Letters, as a result of the issue of the offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.”
SUNA stated that “Kamala Ibrahim’s stance was a response to the statements of the French President Emmanuel Macron.”
Kamala is one of the most prominent Sudanese plastic artists. She was born in 1939, studied at the College of Fine Arts in Khartoum and completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal College in London. She won the Klaus Prize (Netherlands) in 2019.
According to SUNA, Kamala said that her position came “as a result of the statements of the French President, in which he said that the drawings will continue.”
She added that she informed the cultural attaché of the French embassy in Khartoum and the management of the French Cultural Institute, “and they expressed their sorrow and regret for my position in rejecting the award.”
SUNA reported that Kamala was to be awarded the Order of the French Republic in Khartoum on 2 November at the French Cultural Institute in Khartoum.
On 21 October, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly defended the publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which are considered blasphemous in Islam.
