Sisters are doin' it for themselves
If you've been procrastinating a lot recently (like moi) then you may have come across the debate surrounding Angoulême festival - celebrating the best of bande dessinée.
There's more to life than #DrummondPuddleWatch, as dispute over a male-dominated nomination list was released by the Angoulême Festival, i.e. not a single lady listed for an award. You can read more about the gossip in a boring Guardian article...or you can be all clever and read this interesting French article FIBD : Femmes Interdites de Bande Dessinée...or you can join me on a voyage of Female-led comic discovery! (check out the talented rhymes right there)
Before we go through security checks, I must mention Comix Creatrix ...nothing to do with Bellatrix Lestrange...
The UK’s largest ever exhibition of work by pioneering female artists working in the comics medium. Comix Creatrix presents original artwork from 100 innovative creators - much of it has never been seen in public before - and debunks the myth that women have a limited stake in the world of comics.
...I like that word 'debunk'.
Anywho, here's what you need to know in easy digestible bites:
Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics
5 February – 15 May 2016
House of Illustration, 2 Granary Square, London N1C 4BH. Open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed
Mondays. Admission: £7/£5/£4. houseofillustration.org.uk
Oh and the super-talented Paul Gravett is co-curating this exhibition. We pestered him back in June to recommend BD for Brits. Watch the video before you continue (golly, I'm going to quit my job and become a poet).
Now let's get down to business. Here's a snippet of what women are getting up to in the world of comics:
If Bridget Jones was reincarnated in France, then she would take the form of Pénélope Bagieu. Her blogs are filled with everyday scenarios with a "nothing goes right" twist.
Bagieu also reviews BDs for madmoizelle.com. Get on it like a car bonnet.
The wonder woman Lucie Campos at French Books UK at the Institut français is supporting French and French-speaking artists at Comix Creatrix. Marion Fayolle is one of them. The majority of her illustrations are rather naughty (but funny), so I decided to show you her take on the uses of bread.
Let's mix in the comic writers too Julie Birmant. Pablo is a "mammoth graphic biography of Pablo Picasso told by his lover, Fernande Olivier, the model with whom the artist shared a Montmartre garret in the years before he met Georges Braque in 1907." You can also listen to a podcast of Birmant's visit to the Institut français right here, right now.
I'll stop there, as this blog is rambling on more than my dissertation (shh, I haven't started it yet!).
Obviously there are many many many many more female comic artists out there (don't kill me) and this is ONLY a subjective snippet of the French ones (don't hate me).
That's all for now folks...take it away Lennox
P.S. Here's a cheeky plug for our interview with Delphine Perret. Watch the video after you've have enough of Lennox.
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