Exploring Conflict and Migration Through Comics
From billboard to films, we are surrounded by visual communication. In this digital age, visual learning is important as it communicates important concepts through art and design, telling a story to drive connections between both hemispheres of the brain and create a deeper connection with the material.
While visiting the Incubator, high school student Lauren Maniscalco participated in a visual literacy workshop led by GHELI intern, Nico Yamin, and staff member, Smita Bhattacharya. Given Mainscalco’s interest in illustration, the workshop explored the opportunities and challenges of translating text-based narratives into comics. How do you select the most important information to draw? What should remain as text?
Lauren leveraged her talent for sketching to create a comic that narrated a global health story of migration. Perusing the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the story of Ukrainian worker, Vasily Zubko, caught her attention. Zubko biked his way out of a war zone in eastern Ukraine, taking refuge in small monasteries during the treacherous journey.
Working closely with Nico and Smita, Lauren researched Ukraine to create a character mockup and background design. She then drafted a storyboard of the comic, ensuring that it would walk through Zubko’s story. Yamin and Bhattacharya crafted text to string together the pictures and use them to discuss the greater issue of war, conflict, and migration.
Maniscalco heartily agrees that a picture is worth a thousand words, “Using narrative, I was able to show the emotions that the family was feeling while they were enduring struggles. I don’t think I could have done it as well through writing.”