Exhibition in Delft

Between 10 and 24 June 2016 the itinerant exhibition 'Drawing on Violence. Comics from Argentina' could be visited at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the University of Technology of Delft. The exhibition was mounted especially for a conference organized by the Netherlands Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (NALACS) on Cities and Citizenship. During the two days conference, three tours were organized to guide the participants through the exhibition.

Comics for identity - The Story of Juan Martín & Ramón Aiub (Caielli - Aiub)

Drawn in a pleasant, accessible style, at first glance the story of Juan Martín & Ramón Aiub (Caielli-Aiub) looks like a nice story on childhood. Until you read it...

Art by Angel Mosquito, script by Federico Reggiani.

(English translation at the bottom of the comic)

Angel Mosquito (1976) is an illustrator and comic artist. He publishes in national and international printed media since 1998 and is the author of 6 books, including ‘Vitamina Potencia’ and ‘Tristeza,’ which he wrote together with Federico Reggiani. He is currently working on an autobiographic comic, ‘El granjero de Jesu,’ which he publishes online on a weekly basis.

Blog: www.granjerodejesu.blogspot.com

Federico Reggiani (1969) is a librarian, professor of literature, and a comic writer. He has published several books, including two with comic artist Angel Mosquito. He is also a co-founder of the comic blog ‘Historietas Reales,’  was co-director of the research project ‘Studies and critique of the comic,’ National University of Córdoba, and has published several academic papers on comics.

Blogs: https://historietasreales.wordpress.com/ and http://historietasargentinas.wordpress

Trigger Happy - The story of Miguel Bru

The first comic about police and institutional violence on this blog tells the story of Miguel Bru, a student of journalism of the city of La Plata who disappeared in 1993. The comic was written and illustrated by Lautaro Fiszman. 

Lautaro Fiszman (1975) is a comic artist who studied with the renowned Argentine comic artist Alberto Breccia. He has published numerous comics in journals, manuals of the Ministry of Education, and other comic platforms in Spain, Macedonia, Mexico and Lebanon. He also participated in ‘Camouflage Comics,’ a project on comics about the military dictatorship in Argentina, which was supported by the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Fiszman also contributed to the series ‘Historietas por la Identidad.’

Blog: http://www.lautarofiszman.blogspot.com

Trigger happy: Stories of police and institutional violence

Almost all of the comic artists who contributed to the series ‘Historietas por la Identidad,’ also participated in the project ‘Trigger Happy: Stories on police and institutional violence’.

The series is currently in development and will include at least 10 stories. Each comic tells the story of an individual victim of police and institutional violence. The families of the victims were involved in the project from the beginning. Most of the cases focus on the stories of young men from the marginalized neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and other cities. Taken together, the cases show how institutional violence is sustained by a wide range of factors. These include the widespread corruption of the police and the judiciary, but also the generalized criminalization of the victims in the media and through public opinion.

The aim of the series is to raise awareness amongst the public about police and institutional violence, as well as to inform potential victims of institutional violence about their rights when confronted with this type of situation. Once finalized, the comics will be used to reach out to a broader (and younger) public. The comics are also available online.
See: http://historietas-violenciapolicial.blogspot.com

Historietas por la Identidad – Comics for Identity

'Historietas por la Identidad’ was developed in the context of the awareness raising campaigns of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo). These campaigns aim to reach out to society, but particularly to the generation of the 500 disappeared children, now between 35 and 40 years old. These children were  either abducted together with their parents or born in captivity. They were appropriated by couples affiliated with the military regime, and grew up unaware of their origins and true identity. The ultimate goal of the campaigns is to stimulate young men and women with doubts about their identity to approach the Abuelas.

The project is realized with the voluntary collaboration of illustrators, script writers and comic artists. Each story is told from the perspective of the brother or sister looking for his or her relative. The comics are almost all in black and white to make printing and distribution easier. They all include photographs of the brothers and sisters, so that persons who doubt their background may recognize a resemblance and come forward.

The project started in 2006, and over 40 comics have now been made. Exhibitions were organized both inside and outside Argentina. In 2015 all of the comics were gathered in a single publication, Historietas por la Identidad, a collaboration between the Abuelas and the Archivo de Historieta y Humor Gráfico Argentinos, Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno.

Publication online: https://www.abuelas.org.ar/archivos/publicacion/HistorietasIdentidad.pdf

Blog: http://hisxi.blogspot.com

Delft University of Technology

And we're off! Installation of the exhibition at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology. The exhibition is part of the NALACS-conference 'Cities and Citizenship in Latin America and the Caribbean' that will take place on 16-17th of June. On 16 June at 17:30 the exhibition will be inaugurated with a guided tour. The exhibition is open to the public until the end of June.