Drawing diaries and biographical comics of Italian-speaking students
For a year Faroqhi and Peretz visited class of 7th graders at Alfred Nobel School in Berlin. The bilingual students who are taught both in German and in Italian created artistic sketchbooks and diaries. Immigration stories, scenes from family life and everyday moments were recorded in scribbles and drawings.
Today, years after the project, the students have left school. But their fame as well-trained storytellers and drawing artists remains.
The diaries and graphic novel stories were publicly presented in summer 2014 at Gropiusbau Community Center Berlin.
A brochure documents the work.
Excerpt from foreword to brochure:
(...) Instead of "Who am I?", students had to ask themselves "How do I look in this drawing?" You can find in this exhibition biographical graphic novels, pencil studies and graphite drawings of grandmothers, mythical creatures and favorite Italian dishes.
The comic is not a very new form of expression, however it still is not attributed to the so-called "high arts". Which is a shame as this art form is very well suited to express even complicated content in a concise and witty way.
Anna Faroqhi and Haim Peretz have been very successful in getting young people interested in the art form of the graphic novel, encouraging them to study the essentials of life, to think about themselves, to explore themselves, and then record the results in their sketchbooks. (...)
Karen Korte, district mayor of Neukölln, Berlin