OVERLAP

We are very happy to share this comic book showcasing photographs by young participant artists Bible, Evanz, Fatime, Juanita, Noor, Stella and Susan. The collection of comics included in this comic book are the result of a series of creative participatory workshops (CPWs) ran in collaboration with the Halifax Refugee Clinic and the Youth Outreach Team at the YMCA Centre for Immigrant Programmes of Greater Halifax and Dartmouth.

Over 6 weeks, participating youth engaged in  drawing warm up exercises and brainstorming through words and sketches to identify the themes and stories they wanted to tell. The themes emerged from discussions on what had been shared during the focus group discussions (FGDs) held during an earlier visit February 2026. From these discussions, every week we would work on different techniques and approaches to get to the stories that the youth wanted to convey through their drawings, cartoons and comics. Basic techniques and semiotic resources on comics were shared, and all materials were provided for them to work on their drawings. Some youth knew how to draw very well, while others needed more help. Throughout the entire workshop programme, we worked towards ‘democratising’ and ‘demystifying’ the drawing process through taking care of the materials and approaches that were provided so that youth could occupy the space and feel confident and comfortable to meaningfully participate, even when not knowing how to draw. This meant that in drawing, participants were invited to draw from memory, by copying each other’s works and making them theirs, or even by tracing and then refining from image cards, from images on the internet.

By the end of the 6 weeks, each participant produced at least one comic, they wrote a short description about the story the comics were conveying and also did short 2-minute videos so the stories of the comics could be heard directly from their voices. These videos will be made available on the GRABS website. The themes explored through the comics are varied and range from weather to education, through administrative limbo and time, belonging and costs of living, mobility, isolation during Covid-19, and deskilling.

You can view a soft copy of the comic book here. If you would like a pdf soft copy, please send us an email to grabs@univ-paris8.fr