4 Dicembre 2021
SPAZIO MET-BO
This presentation aims to highlight some of the trajectories delineated by contemporary Indigenous comics published in Canada, engaging with both the visual and the verbal. Indeed, some Indigenous creators have experimented with and tested the limits of the traditional/structural features/elements of the medium (lines, layout, perspectives, linearity, temporal sequences, among others) to insert new subjectivities. Hence, these comics demonstrate how the medium can prove to be a dynamic place of encounter, syncretism, and (visual) innovation (if not subversion). Moreover, comics also offers Native authors the opportunity to investigate complex histories, experiences, and identities, while contrasting the misrepresentation of their culture (and that of people of color in general) in mainstream comics (and pop cultural artifacts at large). Graphic narratives can visualize traditional oral tales facilitating their transmission to new generations. They can also encourage the reinvention of old/traditional myths and the creation of new ones through hybridization. Ancient stories are now set in a futuristic landscape. The exploration of myths becomes a means to reconnect elements of the past with those of the present and the future. Similarly, Superheroes’ narratives (one of the most visible genre of the medium) are molded according to new sensibilities and understanding of the notion of heroism, adding nuances to a Western tradition. The traditional understanding of the superhero as the ‘champion of the oppressed’ is challenged/implemented by the figure of the superhero as healer. Finally, Indigenous creators also explores testimonial, documentary, and historiographic modes of telling to recuperate an often neglected past, educate the audience about what is happening in the present, and investigate what the future might look like for indigenous people.
