INTERNATIONAL COMIC RESIDENCE
Higinia Garay, Marine des Mazery and Jimmy Beaulieu begin their International Comic Residency The International Comic Residency driven by Azkuna Zentroa, Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de L'image (Angoulême) and Maison de la Littérature (Quebec), will be activated in January once the three centres have consecutively chosen the people to undertake their projects at their headquarters. For this residency, Azkuna Zentroa has chosen the artist Higinia Garay / Higi Vandis from among the candidates. The jury has particularly highlighted the graphic quality of her work. The presence of many women, which is the current drift of comic, has also been emphasised. The Bilbao artist will be sharing this experience with Marine des Mazery, the artist chosen at Angoulême, and Jimmy Beaulieu, chosen by the House of Literature in Quebec. The residence begins at the House of Authors, coinciding with the Angoulême International Comic Festival. One month later, they will be working at the Komikteka, where they can take part in the 22nd edition of Bilbao Gutun Zuria, the International Literary Festival
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organised by Azkuna Zentroa. The final period will take place in Canada as part of the Quebec BD Festival. Over these months, they will be undertaking the project presented for this call, whose unifying thread is the river. Higi Vandis’ is called Un río nos atraviesa based on the ‘amazing’ quality of what it means knowing how to flow. According to the artist, the purpose of this project is to “tell a story which has been heard and do fieldwork based on interviews, similar to the ones I did in El Salvador. The idea is to compile life stories in the first person of those inhabiting them, approaching and meeting each other as human beings.” A project ‘in movement like water’, which she will create via the experience of the residency itself.
