Gianna
Gianna’s comic centers on themes of climate change. She focuses on the story of a little girl named Ayumi, from Shinjuku, Japan. Ayumi’s character helps tell the story of what can happen to the places we love if we stand idle when climate change is looming. The character arc involves education, thinking, and then using that education to make a difference in any way possible.
Julia
Living at the Intersection’ takes a creative approach to explain an often misunderstood or foggy topic: intersectionality. This is the idea that individuals’ experiences, including oppression and privileges, are shaped by their multiple identities and social groups to which they belong. The comic highlights four individuals of several marginalized identities along lines of race, disability, and gender identity and by the end of the sequence, the comic reveals all four people as a single individual.
Rachel
My comic is about a girl who explores her own liminal identity through the lens of her dog, Kodak, who like her is a mutt. The idea of using the dog was to make a difficult, albeit common topic, more light and accessible for a teen audience. The comic was inspired by an essay I wrote last semester on Jessica in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, whose identity in limbo between Christianity and Judaism turned me to introspection about my own similar identity.