depression accompanied him throughout his life Virginia WoolfHe had been blaming himself for his mother’s death since he was a child, but he found a way to live with the disease in literature. His books were fictions that skillfully glided between these chapters, replacing anxiety with a void impossible to fill and the fear of being stuck in endless suffering. who knows if septimus‘Mrs Dalloway’s suicidal character was a desire for the fatal fulfillment of a personal alter ego, but what is undoubtedly Woolf’s works clearly pointed to an oppressive society Those who do not hesitate to dig glassy abysses of sadness to sink into. Unfortunately, a century later, his words seem to have fallen on deaf ears: We built An insensitive society that erects obstacles to the entire existence of the most disadvantaged. These aspirations, which supposedly build a happy future, work, home and family, are today unattainable utopias, magnified by constant media bombardment, implicitly and explicitly reminding us that we are nobody without money. It’s not hard to put two and two together: this is the ideal breeding ground for the young. depression We are stuck in that swamp of sadness that hugs us tightly and leaves us exhausted. Depression is perhaps rightly said to be the epidemic of the 21st century, but this is done out of greed for a clickbait headline rather than any intention of acknowledging our share of the blame.
However, despite everything, Woolf’s path remains valid: creation is a way to confront and fight that monsternot only as a personal catharsis, but also as a provocation of other people’s consciences, as a collective awakener of that fabricated dream that suggests we surrender ourselves to that reality.
Two comics hit bookstore shelves this week They agree on many things: Expressing depression from intimate experiences and private therapy; exploiting graphics through experiments and, no less important, To have been rewarded for this courage. In ‘Enchanted Pessimism’ (Salamandra Graph), screenwriter and monologue Borja Sumosas reclaiming his role as illustrator Describe how the disease gradually disappears He accompanies Laura, a television screenwriter suffering from severe depression. We will closely experience how the world moves away and how the cell of eternal loneliness grows by feeding on Fluoxetine, Orfidal, Omeprazole and Aldactone. Aggressive, almost Fauvist coloration fuels an intimate and organic drawing. Reality dissolves into suffocating and oppressive atmospheres that easily slip into a terrifying dream-like state; As the monstrosity takes on a tangible and harrowing form, Laura sinks before we can help her, forcing us to reflect on the situation we are a part of. . The FNAC/Salamandra Graphics award for comics provided well-deserved recognition of an official risk affecting the reader.
‘Olympics of suffering‘, regarding Enric Pujadas And Gonzalo Aeneas (Dolmen Editorial) He received the Ciutat de Palma comics award with an offer that is as daring as it is personal: the screenwriter surgically dissects the cartoonist’s reality. A depressed patient must face an impossible challenge.. Aeneas’s life is shown to us transparently: his work and personal problems, his fears and failures form a scenario in which the cartoonist is stuck, without finding windows to breathe. But conveying to the reader this nightmare that only he or she can see is complicated, and the creative choice couldn’t be more daring: a dance of colorful styles. The manga line moves uninterruptedly towards aesthetic minimalismbut what to obtain It perfectly expresses the feeling of being lost and disoriented in the face of reality.playing with graphic symbolism to capture overflowing emotions.
These are two very different works, but They take up Virginia Woolf’s baton to confront the disease with the most powerful therapy: creation.