Bulgarian Comics as an Identity Mirror
(2024) Comics in Contemporary Society : Challenges and Opportunities — Location: Brno, Czech republic
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- Authors
Gencheva, Svetlana 
- Abstract
- This contribution grounded in the doctoral thesis "Narrativity and Rhythmicity of Ornamentation in Bulgarian Sequential Art in the Digital Age", explores the narrative constellation of major authors and collectives in Bulgarian sequential art over the past fifteen years. The intermedial research extends beyond the sequential art, which is comics, to include other domains such as animation, mixed media narratives, and transmedia fictions. To understand the historical development of comics in Bulgaria, it is necessary to examine their interaction with various cultural influences and sectors of visual culture, considering the challenges faced during the totalitarian era (1946-1989). This period was marked by Soviet cultural dominance, using sequential art as a tool for propaganda. Considering the evolving identity of Bulgarian comics, the media functions as an anticipation laboratory, unveiling the impacts of democratization, globalization, and digitalization on its development. The country has, in a sense, cultivated an environment to integrate comics into a broader graphic culture, mirroring the contemporary hybridization of visual media. This parallel represents the Bulgaria’s unique approach, creatively utilizing ornamentation as a visual and narrative matrix. In this regard, the theoretical framework of media archaeology proves crucial for understanding these intricate processes. The mirror effect method, based on interview analysis, not only guided the extraction of the corpus, but also the creation of an analytical framework and the interpretation of results. Through the analysis, the research brings to light how Bulgarian sequential art reinvents its imagery in the digital age and unveils how society and memory find expression through comics.
- Affiliations
COST
Citations
Gencheva, S., & Marion, P. (2024). Bulgarian Comics as an Identity Mirror. Comics in Contemporary Society : Challenges and Opportunities, Brno, Czech republic. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/239551