Zeina Abirached - Passing on history through comics

This article is taken from the "Issues" section of the September 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

Do you feel like a herald?

If I started writing and now create comics, it's probably because I felt the urgent need to connect my present with my past. I felt the need to remember what we went through in Lebanon in the 80s, when I was a child. I don't know if I consider myself a herald. But if there's one role I can take on, on my own scale, it's that of passing on snippets of our history through a fertile and fairly popular medium.

How did you come to be an illustrator, what was your motivation?

The urgency to tell my story and the pleasure of drawing. Drawing is not just a tool; I get immense pleasure from it. I studied graphic design because I knew I had something to do with images, but I didn't yet know how it would materialize. It was during my studies that I discovered how vital drawing was to me. Drawing and writing are very closely linked, and I rarely draw when I'm not writing. Françoise Sagan used to say that when she writes, she feels like she's going into a submarine. I love this idea of changing elements, of being absorbed by the drawing. It's a refuge for me.

What role does a medium like comics play in raising awareness of societal and political issues?

It has an obvious transmission and educational role. It allows us to tackle important subjects and take the time to think about them. Comics also bring poetry to subjects that are difficult to access. There's a personal, sensitive relationship with a subject that the reader may not know anything about at the outset.

What does it mean to you to receive the insignia of Doctor Honoris Causa from UNamur?

It's an honor, a great joy and a surprise of course. What touches me particularly are the moments that take place around this ceremony. The awarding of the insignia gave me the opportunity to meet academics and students. I like the idea of participating, however briefly, in the life of the university. I had no connection with the University of Namur before, but this gives us the opportunity to forge new links.

"Sounds drawn, emotions materialized: real graphic poetry"

Two questions to Benoît Vanderose, professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Zeina Abirached's Honorary Doctor sponsor.

What is it about Zeina Abirached's work that particularly speaks to you?

First and foremost, it's the formal level that makes this work striking. A recognizable graphic style at first glance! Then, when we get down to the details, it's a swarm of inventiveness that immerses us in the author's universe. Drawn sounds, materialized emotions: real graphic poetry. We're drawn in. Once inside this monochrome universe, we're invited into touching stories, opening onto other experiences, other destinies, other realities. A journey that questions our own journey, how lucky we are to have avoided certain ordeals, and what we could have gained by going through others.

What links do you see between the artistic and academic worlds?

I think that teachers and artists largely share the same vocation, that of transmitting knowledge in all its diversity. Obscurantism is "opposition to the spread of education, culture and scientific progress", and both academia and the arts are fervent opponents of this narrow view of the world. In this sense, I believe that artists such as Zeina Abirached can be seen as colleagues who bring a complementary sensibility, an alternative approach, to the battle against obscurantism on other fronts. And in view of the alarming situation in which our world finds itself, this alliance seems to me more desirable than ever.