Animate Europe 2020
The history of three European cities
Three one-single page comics submitted for the competition Animate Europe, Shortlisted.
This project was made together with Dr. Anna Calori, Historian, who authored the text and collaborated with me on the reasearch.
We chose to represent three different cities: Naples, Leipzig, and London, where we both lived for a short time. Through an experimental visual and textual narrative, we describe the history of the place and its citizens.
The history of three European cities
Three one-single page comics submitted for the competition Animate Europe, Shortlisted.
This project was made together with Dr. Anna Calori, Historian, who authored the text and collaborated with me on the reasearch.
We chose to represent three different cities: Naples, Leipzig, and London, where we both lived for a short time. Through an experimental visual and textual narrative, we describe the history of the place and its citizens.
Text and Background Structure
The text structure mirrors the flow of the comic’s narrative, unfolding as follows:
In London, the boundary between public and private spaces blurs.
As the character moves through the scene, the text bubbles twist and shift, reflecting their journey.
“I tried to follow its rhythm, to flow with it and embrace the city mutability, but it´s hard to keep up with this vortex of renewal.”
Naples is known for its complex underground network, including ancient tunnels, catacombs, and even old Greek and Roman structures buried beneath the city. As the character walks down the stairs through the various levels of the city, the text bubble unfolds layer by layer.
“As I walk in Quartieri Spagnoli, I hear the echoes of what lies below me: tunnels and cavities. Used and re-used by citizien before me..”
Lastly, Leipzig is known for its role in the peaceful protests leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, including the 8th March International Women's Day demonstrations, the Monday demonstrations in the 1980s, and more recent global movements such as Fridays for Future. The text bubble is written directly inside the protest flags held by the characters.
“Our horizon of engagement, like the city´s bounderies are ever expanding. Have the personal and political space acquired a global dimension?”
