Each year, I’m amazed by the range of stories, art styles, and unique perspectives submitted to our Graphic Lit category. This year was no exception.
Our winner, Emergency Room by Faye Harnest, chosen by judge and acclaimed avant-garde Indian artist Bhanu Pratap, is a vivid, unsettling journey through medical trauma. Here’s what Bhanu had to say:
“Emergency room rides on the idea of the circus that can be our current medical practice. The use of bright color contrasts and highlights the harrowing experience of being misdiagnosed or mistreated, colors also contrast the very neutral colors of most hospitals, white rooms and white lab coats. The surreality of this working metaphor heightens the absurdity of the experience. One enters this circus as themselves and leaves as the clown.The middle page featuring the eyeballs is the definite highlight.”
Our runner-up, The Forager’s Daughter by Maja Milkowska-Shibata, tenderly explores a Polish daughter’s relationship with her father through the lens of family traditions, while reflecting on the tangled intersections of love and addiction.
Finalist How to Break a Fall by Eva C. confronts the horror of suicide through the eyes of a small child who witnesses a traumatic event—and through the reactions of the adults around them.
Finalist Fixer-Upper by Jen Grisard Ludwig uses the metaphor of real estate to explore the author’s struggle with body image.
In our Editor’s Pick, Boru Apu by Zareen Choudhury, two children rummaging through boxes in an attic stumble upon a long-hidden family secret.
Andrai Whitted is the Digital Media Editor at Solstice Literary Magazine where he painstakingly formats each issue among other contributions. He is also a designer and artist and in our Spring 2019 issue he has kickstarted a new genre for the mag with Graphic Lit featuring comic storytelling and other forms of sequential art including comic poetry and experimental works.
