Where do I belong?

Where do I belong??

I used animals to represent me and my father as well as other people who are part of my story.

Each animal has a meaning, my father, the main character is the eagle we see in panel 1, 3 and 4. His animal is an eagle because in my eyes he was strong, confident, determined and had a fierce personality. I am the fox, a bit chaotic but observant. I am the one experiencing this story of my father (the eagle). In panel 4, there is an animal that has our back to us and is heading in the opposite direction of my father. It is a wolf, it represents Canadian people, not because they are bad but because they are used to the cold weather and because they are independent and alone. I used the wolves to emphasize my message of the way I see Canada. A cold country where everyone does their own thing. The wolf is wearing headphones because I’ve observed that people here like to walk around a lot with headphones which is opposite the way people in Rwanda usually are in public. They are always interacting with other people instead.

* The last panel shows the fox (me) standing between the Canadian and Rwandan parts because my father’s story is also my story and, in the end, both parts/sides are both me, both Rwanda and Canada are part of me and are both my home. In the end, it’s my responsibility to learn to reconcile both sides.

Comic and words by Stella