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Exploring visual power
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The recently concluded seven-day Indo-German workshop on "Visual narratives: From the comic book to the graphic novel'' delved into the possibility of using comic form for serious literature.
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It was far from the usually serious and dull literary sessions, what with the participants that comprised a lively team of young writers and illustrators at their humorous best. Fifteen of them headed by Gita Wolf of the Tara Publishing, who has to her credit several children's books, had gathered for a seven-day Indo-German workshop conducted by the Max Mueller Bhavan and Tara Publishing on "Visual narratives: From the comic book to the graphic novel.'' So the mood quite matched the workshop's purpose.
Markus Huber and Isabel Kritz, well versed in the comic form and doing a lot of work in the medium in Germany were invited for the workshop to help widen the scope of this not-so-patronised art form.
``Sadly, this exciting medium remains untapped and is used merely for children's entertainment. Though not easy, yet imagine the fun of conveying serious things in comic form,'' says Gita Wolf.
The workshop's takeoff point were the three lines:
"That's my brother-in law,'' he said.
"Where,'' I asked.
"In there. The ashpot. That's my brother-in-law".
The participants had to write or create through visuals a comic story ending with these three lines. The ideas were satirical, funny, abstract... but absolutely original. Besides, the response and reaction of the German duo and other participants turned the story-reading session into a creative exploration. The presentations at the workshop will be published by Tara in their new series for adult readers called `Communication'. And with professional artists like Orijit Sen, whose well-known work includes, ``A River of Stories'', a lengthy comic book based on the struggle against the Narmada dam, behind the effort, ``Communication'' sounds promising.
Also present was Sarnath Banerjee, who is developing a comic book on machismo and urban sexuality as part of a MacArthur Foundation (Chicago) fellowship. Another participating artist, a student of Stella Maris College and Central St. Martins, London, Rathna Ramanathan has worked as a book designer in publishing houses and co-authored two typographic picture books. And there was Anushka Ravishankar, who has published several books of fiction and
"nonsense'' verse with Tara Publishing.
``There's no dearth of talent in India as its visual richness offers immense insight to artists,'' say Markus and Isabel. Markus works with theatre artists in Germany, doing illustrations for stage sets, while Isabel creates comics for children and is associated with various magazines.
A perfect book, according to them, should be a combination of beautiful language and visuals. They see visuals as an effective medium of education for children and want parents to encourage children to develop this skill. ``Pictures are the indication of a civilisation's growth, seen today in the form of television and computer,'' says Markus.
Gita, whose children's books like ``The Very Hungry Lion'', ``Hen Sparrow Turns Purple'' etc. are a visual delight, prefers to tell a story more through illustrations than words. ``I use drawings not just to add colour to my books but for the children to understand and indulge in the visual art. Hence, I like to experiment with different drawing styles''.
In a way proving that a picture speaks a thousand words.
CHITRA SWAMINATHAN
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