“What should compel me to
read these comic books?” asked a middle-aged participant during a session on
graphic novels at the most recent Goa Arts and Literary Festival. While one
might quibble with this person’s lumping of the two genres together, what
cannot be escaped is the intent to relegate the illustrated form, of any
literary variety, to the domain of childhood and, therefore, childishness. What
the festival participant’s question implies is that adult reading must do only
with words. This attempt to empty words of their inherent magic to conjure
images also indicates a failure of the imagination. Illustrated books do not
simply combine script and graphics, but allow for a slippage between them, as
much also of time between generations, human geographies, and within a lifetime.
Take the
first block-printed evidence of Konkani. The Hortus Malabaricus, a seventeenth century treatise compiled collaboratively
by the colonizing Dutch and local elites, chronicles the Malabar Coast’s flora.
Its twelve volumes with descriptions in Latin, Malayalam, Arabic, and Konkanni
were published between 1608 and 1703. The Konkanni contribution came from physicians
Ranga Bhat, Vinayak Pandit, and Appu Bhat who worked on the project, evidencing
linguistic connections between the Konkan and Malabar Coasts. Accompanying the Malabaricus’ text are drawings of plants,
making it Devanagri Konkani’s first illustrated book. This February, German
artist Wilhelm Bronner displayed his interpretation of illustrations from the Malabaricus in Goa, literally bridging
past and present through pictures.
The present
enquires of the past in the recent My
Godri Anthology (2013). Written by Merle Almeida and illustrated by Nina Sabnani,
the Bookworm publication may readily be taken as one for children alone. In it,
a parent stitches together the saga of a storied quilt for a child. Needlework
and textile patches beautifully match the theme as family histories are uncovered
alongside Goa’s. The godri functions as graphic narrative, representing
travelogue and legacies in need of revisiting. Goan quilting traditions, this
book illustrates, are stories that require anthologizing as they range from
one’s granny’s godri to, perhaps, the kawandi made by Karnataka’s Siddi women whose
enslaved African ancestors were brought to Portuguese India.
Family lore
is again the subject of another Bookworm production. Once Upon a Feast (2012), featuring art by Fatema Barot Mota, is
inspired by an account from young writer Mia Marie Lourenc̹o’s mother’s youth. Tasked
with dusting the statue of the church’s patron saint in preparation for the
feast day, the little protagonist discovers too late that she’s made a mistake.
Set in a South Goan village, the local narrative elevates the seemingly
ordinary by interlacing dramatic development with stylised architectural and
cartographic depictions, as well as rural earthiness. It is in the interstices
of this pictorial storyline that the many-layered generations and interactions
that constitute a community are made visible. Most emblematically, a child and
parent speak to and through one another, as much within the text as outside of
it, melding the authorial process with that of the readership.
Rural South
Goa is also the partial geography of Savia Viegas’ graphic novellas published
last year through the writer/artist’s own Saxtti imprint. Viegas’ outsider art
aptly pairs with her evocative tales of characters at society’s margins. In Eddi and Diddi, named for the dogs the
book is about, Viegas takes on urbanization; whereas, in Abha Nama, lecturer Abha Dias struggles with institutional
hierarchy. Abha’s time in Bombay recalls Goa’s historic and diasporic
connections with that city, but her name invokes religio-cultural origins not
usually linked with Goa. Viegas’ visuals are both complementary and parallel to
the stories, permitting the novellas to be read variedly. This exemplifies the
ability of illustrated books to create multiple dimensions, beyond the limits
of image or text – an adult appreciation with childlike sensibilities and vice
versa.
The print version of this piece can be read here. For more on Bookworm, visit their site. Savia Viegas' website can be accessed here.
No comments:
Post a Comment