TRIBUTE: Graphic Constellation, Part II

The exhibition “Graphic Constellation” presents the comic books and the diversity of languages, aesthetic registers and cultural references of these nine creators who, with their use of color, graphics, and stylistic and narrative experimentation, challenge the established comic-book form. In their work, the participating artists bring a critical eye and humour to themes of millennial reality such as economic and employment insecurity, the disappearance of stability, our relationship with technology, sisterhood and relationships on the Internet (Part II).

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: CCCB Archive

Presenting the work of nine female artists the exhibition “Graphic Constellation” is also an invitation to discover how a network of self-publishing fairs, small publishing houses and printers have consolidated the alternative scene on which these nine artists move and learn. And it highlights how comic books can step off the paper and come to life in other artistic media such as ceramics, tapestries and animations. The exhibition is a decision to exhibit the comic book in an innovative and unconventional way, where comics and characters from the books invade the exhibition space in nine installations that the artists have imagined specially for the occasion. The visitor can immerse himself in their imaginaries in these nine spaces, make a match with the monsters of Bàrbara Alca’s dating application Cringer, play with Roberta Vázquez’s comic characters or go through a dimensional gate devised by Miriampersand.

Bàrbara Alca is an illustrator, art director and graphic designer based in Barcelona. The subject matter of her illustrations and comics draws on pop culture, the internet and the everyday life of her generation. She worked on various fanzines in 2014 and 2017, as well as contributing to the press. In 2019 she published her graphic novel Pizzachica i las Lloronas, and, among other feminist projects in the form of children’s stories or youth guides (such as the Petita i Gran collection), with Zenith (Planeta), she published the comic book Llámame Feminazi. She continues to work on publishing projects for children and young people in the form of comics and illustrated albums, and gives illustration and comic workshops aimed at this audience. Since 2020 she has devoted herself to illustrating and making small animations for international advertising, though she continues to generate content in the form of comics on her social networks and to produce zines and self-published projects.

Marta Cartu’s artistic practice questions the relationship we build with visual narratives, and her work is based around comic books and their channels of circulation, such as self-publishing and digital spaces. She is the author of the comic book Hola Siri and various fanzines such as Triatlón, Even in deserts there is water and Un tumor muy guai. She has also produced expanded comic projects such as the installation Espacios de Seguridad at Sala d’Art Jove and taken part in group exhibitions including Comic, somnis i història at CaixaForum. She has a degree in Fine Arts, specialising in drawing and education.

Alternating between the purely digital and the paintbrush, Genie Espinosa works both for editorial publications (Das Magazine, Die Zeit, Time Out, Diari Ara, Vice, Wired, Refinery29…) and a variety of clients such as Apple, Sony, Nike, Spotify, WeTransfer and Klarna. Her work is characterized by a range of strong colours, exaggerated perspectives and excessively large, non-normative characters who are unapologetic for the space they take up in her work. Her illustrations are pleasant and gentle in appearance, but sometimes have a dark background and, almost always, a double meaning. Her latest work includes the cover of “MAFIOSA”, a single by singer Nathy Peluso, and the launch of her first graphic novel HOOPS (Sapristi, March 2021), where, in a dis/u-topian future, three friends from the suburbs accidentally fall into an interdimensional hole from which they cannot escape without first discovering the secrets of this new place and battling with their own monsters. This graphic novel won her the Miguel Gallardo Award for the Best New Writer at the 40th COMICBCN SALON and the RNE ÓJO CRÍTICO Comic Prize 2021. She coordinates the fanzine RARAS (2019) and MUY RARAS (2020), in which she self-publishes a selection of artists, illustrators and writers to promote multidisciplinary female talent (one of the Best Comics of 2020 according to The Comics Journal).

Ana Galvañ is a comic book author and illustrator from Murcia. She has contributed to publications such as El País, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Socialter and Berliner. In the field of comics, her stories have appeared in Fantagraphics, Nobrow, Kus!, Vertigo DC, Apa-Apa and Fosfatina. She recently published Tarde en McBurger’s, a pre-adolescent fantasy story edited by Apa Apa cómics.

Nadia Hafid has a degree in Fine Arts (University of Barcelona) and studied Applied Wall Arts at the Llotja School. She combines illustration and comic projects, and her drawings have graced the covers of the “Babelia” supplement of El País and articles in international publications such as The New York Times, The Economist, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. El buen padre (2020), her debut with Sapristi, won the Best Emerging Author Award from the Comic Book Critics Association, and was included in the list of the 100 Best National Comics by Rockdelux. It has been translated into French by Casterman and into Turkish by Beta Basim Yayin Dagitim. Chacales is her second comic book (2022) published by Sapristi.

Conxita Herrero Delfa draws, creates fanzines, and writes poems and songs. She likes cooking, reading, riding her bike, watching films, cats and talking on the telephone. She always has lots of ideas going around in her head and is interested in anything related to art, education or feminism. She is a freelance illustration for national and international media such as El País, Diari Ara, Revista Granta and Guernica Magazine, for publishers such as Blackie Books, Fosfatina, Kus and Fantagraphics, and for institutions such as Barcelona Provincial Council, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and El Prat de Llobregat Council. In 2016, Barcelona publisher Apa-Apa cómics published her first book, Gran bola de helado (Big Scoop of Ice Cream), published in France by Rackham in spring 2017, and in Italy by Hoppípolla in autumn 2018. In 2017 she was nominated Best Newcomer at the comic fairs of Madrid and Barcelona.

María Medem started self-publishing her comics after studying Fine Arts. Her first long comic was published by Terry Bleu, a small Dutch editorial. She has been included in anthologies such as NOW (Fantagraphics), Cold Cube (Cold Cube Press) and Clubhouse (Colorama), and has collaborated and continues to collaborate with various fanzines. In 2018, Cenit was published by Apa Apa, winning her the Best Newcomer Award at the 37th Barcelona Comic Fair and the ACDCómic Critics Prize to the Best Emerging Author. She published Echos with French publisher Fidèle Editions. She has produced illustrations for publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times, and producers such as A24. She has also made animations for musicians such as Rival Consoles and Hermanos Gutiérrez. She has just completed her latest comic, Por culpa de una Flor, which will be published in February 2023 by Apa Apa Cómics and Blackie Books.

Miriampersand has contributed to publications such as The New York Times, El País Semanal, Babelia, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller and Yorokobu. In 2021 she published Internet Sublime (Editorial Sapristi), her second long comic after Animal Party in 2012 (Ediciones de Ponent). She has contributed to anthologies such as Enjambre (Norma Editorial, 2014) and Teen Wolf (Tik Tok comics–Fosfatina, 2016). She enjoys creating anthropomorphic animals to express human emotions.

Roberta Vázquez is an illustrator and comic book artist. She lives and works in Barcelona. She has contributed to publications such as Vice, El Jueves, El País Semanal, Marie Claire, Glamour and Cáñamo. In 2019 her first comic book ¡Socorro! was published by Apa Apa publishers. She is currently working on her first children’s book for Blackie Books, while continuing to self-publish her fanzines and work as a freelance illustrator.

Participating Artists: Bàrbara Alca, Marta Cartu, Genie Espinosa, Ana Galvañ, Nadia Hafid, Conxita Herrero Delfa, María Medem, Miriampersand, Roberta Vázquez

Photo: GMarta Cartu, Security spaces, 2019, Courtesy of the author

Info: Curator: Montserrat Terrones, CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), Montalegre 5, Barcelona, Spain, Duration: 2/12/2022-14/5/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-20:00, https://www.cccb.org/