Let's get graphic

From history to sports to business, authors and artists are exploring graphic non-fiction as a literary form

Gone are the days when graphic novels were crudely dismissed as glorified picture books for adults, especially those who were not smart enough to wade through tomes full of text. Today, these books are not only being taken seriously by publishers and reviewers but also being studied in schools, colleges and universities. This recognition has come thanks to the work of Art Spiegelman, Marjane Satrapi, Orijit Sen, Sarnath Banerjee, Alison Bechdel, Amruta Patil, Neil Gaiman and many other graphic novelists.

The skill to weave images and words into a seamless whole is garnering respect beyond the domain of fiction. Authors of non-fiction who want to compromise neither on research nor on creativity are exploring graphic narratives to tell compelling stories that stand out among the large number of books flooding the market each month. Let’s look at three recent examples from India.

Nikhil Gulati has written and illustrated The People of the Indus (2022) for Penguin Books. This work of non-fiction about the Indus civilization, which both India and Pakistan claim as their heritage, is based on a collaboration with Jonathan Mark Kenoyer — a professor of archaeology and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the United States. He has served as field director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project since 1986, so the book is suitably enriched by his expertise.

 A trip to an excavation site with college friends was the starting point of Mr Gulati’s curiosity. As he read more on the Indus civilization, he felt like creating a book that would present the history in a visual manner. The People of the Indus begins in the present day and takes readers back to Mohenjo-daro in 2600 BCE on a journey that involves learning about agriculture, trade, governance, sanitation, and environmental catastrophe. This book also compares the Indus civilization with the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations.

 Mr Gulati writes, “Being an artist and having previously visualised the cities and the people himself, Dr Kenoyer gave very important inputs into the depictions of clothes, jewellery, hairstyles, architecture and landscapes of the Indus people.”

 Grit: The Vishwas Story (2022), published by Hachette India, is a sports biography presented as a non-fiction graphic narrative. It features the struggles and achievements of para-swimmer, martial artist and dancer Vishwas K S from Bengaluru who rebuilt his life with great fortitude after losing his arms in an accident. The book credits V R Ferose for the vision and concept, and Sriram Jagannathan for the script, design and art.

 The visuals heighten the emotional resonance of the story as readers get to see the protagonist’s world turning upside down because of his disability and his subsequent efforts to regain confidence. When words seem inadequate to express his feelings and thoughts, images help readers enter his world and empathise with him.

 The existence of this book is a big win from the point of view of representation. People with disabilities are often rendered invisible in our society due to exclusionary policies, inaccessible infrastructure and unreasonable prejudices. Their being seen in books is as important as being seen in public life, not merely as sources of inspiration but as citizens who deserve dignity and justice.

 WE Mean Business (2022), created by Vishwajyoti Ghosh, Shrutika Mathur and Nishtha Vadehra, is a joint publishing venture of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Yoda Press. The WE in the title stands for women entrepreneurs. This is different from any other business book that I have read.

 It is an anthology of graphic narratives about “the diverse life-stories and lifeworlds” of 20 business women from across India. The stories have been written as first-person accounts after a year-long process of extensive interviews with the entrepreneurs featured here. What could have been just another dossier on women’s economic empowerment comes alive through the use of storyboards and dialogue supported by photographs, illustrations and QR codes that link readers to additional information about these women-led businesses.

One of the stories is about Sarwat Gulam Kadar Bagwan from Satara in Maharashtra. She was thrown out of her marital home by her husband and in-laws after she gave birth to a girl. She had to move back in with her parents. When helping with her father’s vegetable delivery business and a job at a manufacturing unit was not enough to raise her daughter, she bought a second-hand oven from a bakery and learnt baking from her maternal uncle. Today, she makes and sells biscuits, breads and other food items.

 The other entrepreneurs featured in the book are equally inspiring. Apart from the moving stories and appealing aesthetics, this book is also worth reading for its myriad definitions of success rooted in the women’s realities and dreams whether they work as chefs, potters, weavers, beauticians, steel traders, YouTubers, interior designers or factory owners.