Ma Vie d’Huitre, 2019
Ink and watercolor on watercolor paper
***
This was the third project I made in my studio class.
Our guidelines were very loose ; all we had to do was create a comic book. We could chose the style, the theme, the narrative, the length, the size, and every detail in between.
As inspiration, we visited Ellis Island - a perfect example of the intersection between memory and history - and viewed some examples of comic books ranging from historical ones to humorous ones to more politically infused ones. Looking at those, and speaking of the presence of history in various forms of art and writing, I thought about my distant connection to World War II, specifically through place. My dad's family is partly from Normandy, and visiting its beaches remains one of my favorite things to do there: I am always awed by their beauty, and moved by the weight of the history they hold. Normandy is also known for being an oyster producing region; thus, because of my fascination for this creature, I decided that my comic book would feature the oyster as its main character.
This piece is thus my take on a comic book. It is the history of all the places that I have lived in, and the places that feel like home. It functions as a memory book, something I can hold onto and carry around with me not just spiritually, but now physically too. The small scale of the book reminds the viewer of the preciousness of this archive; it is like a jewel, similar to the oyster itself, often prized for the pearls it harbors. In effect, the book becomes the oyster - a vehicle for memory and prized possessions.
For the style of the drawings, I took inspiration from Sempe, a French illustrator whom I adore. I remember reading Le Petit Nicolas as a child, a book series for which he made the visuals, as well as his New Yorker front pages. I love his “messy” sketchbook aesthetic with simple and quick penstrokes. I thus attempted to imitate his style using ink pen and watercolor as my media. Each drawing functions as a postcard and is signed with my name like many of Sempe's drawings are. The postcards serve dual functions: to preserve and transmit memories of time, place, and history.
