Creative Representations of Muslim Voices

Explanation: 

Creating a comic was a natural creative response to Persepolis, since its graphic novel form was such a powerful form of creative narration. This artistic means of telling a story is exactly what we have been exploring through our portfolios. I sought to imitate the graphics of Persepolis as closely as possible, so I used black Sharpie markers and pens to stick to the black-and-white style of the original. Persepolis was ultimately a coming-of-age story dealing with the complex nature of identity. Marjane is growing up and figuring herself out at a turbulent time in Iranian history —  war is raging around her, she is encountering differing views on religion and veiling and politics at home and in the outside world, and her years in Europe in the second part of the book add another complicating dimension, as they expose her to radical ideas and many facets of Western culture.

In my comic, I wanted to generalize Marjane’s story to explain the complexity of identity, and depict in very basic terms the confusion and turbulence of adolescence. I based my illustrations off of Marjane’s story (for example, depicting the Austrian flag in the panel about encountering different cultures), but the themes and experiences narrated in each panel could apply to girls in many Muslim countries (and some are applicable to teenage girls in any part of the world).

I called the comic “The Identity Vortex” because Persepolis illustrates how multifaceted and complicated identity is; identity is not always easy to distill or categorize, and when trying to define personal identity, the forces that shape it can indeed feel like an almost overwhelming, swirling vortex of ideas, pressures, tastes, and values. Persepolis is about embracing the multifaceted self, and so I conclude my comic with the protagonist emerging from the vortex: “eventually, somewhere out of that vortex, you emerge – whatever ‘you’ means and however you wish to define (or not define) it.”