Graphic Narrative Commentaries, GNC
“Everything we know about the body—certainly as regards the past, and even, it could be argued, as regards the present—exists for us in some form of discourse; and discourse, whether verbal or visual, fictive or historical or speculative, is never unmediated, never free of interpretation, never innocent.” (The Female Body in Western Culture, Susan Suleiman, p.2)
I am an admirer of writers, poets, theorists, educators as well as philosophers, who have the ability to simplify and distill complex thoughts and ideas concerning our human existence. I especially admire those individuals, who help us grapple with the complexity that comes with our varied identities operating within our existence.
As one who is in search of ways in which to understand her own identity—in, within, through and beyond ‘unmediated’ narratives (historical, physical, psychological, cultural, social) I turn my thoughts towards various passages written by those luminaries, who endeavor to closely examine (within & beyond the physical) the multidimensional aspects of what it is to be human. The writings of Patricia Hill Collins, Toni Morrison, Adrian Piper, bell hooks, Susan Sontag, Audre Lorde, W.E.B Dubois, Simone de Beauvoir, Joseph Campbell, John Berger and John-Paul Sartre—have in many ways influenced how I perceive the Self in, within & beyond the various identities used to form and construct it.
My search has led me to create (what I refer to as) Graphic Narrative Commentaries (GNC). Here in this particular space where I use words, text, symbols and images to examine what isn’t always easy to comprehended—the Self.
Dorotha Lemeh’s Graphic Narrative Commentaries, GNC: Text & Context
Visual storytelling manages to bring together diverse subject matter genuinely equipped to construct new, and at times, unearth hidden meaning. As a multidisciplinary artist, I enjoy discovering ways to push, transverse & play with these narratives where alternate meaning and ways of seeing resides.
In my Graphic Narrative Commentaries, GNC, I search out what Sartre suggests as “…being for the self as well as being for others.”
Dorotha Lemeh, Reflection, 2016
The conversations taking place in the GNCs, include exploring identity, gender, spirituality and memory.
Dorotha Lemeh, It Came In Waves, work on paper, 2014-15
It Came In Waves, animated, 2016
Animation was added to the bottom left corner of this GNC, It Came in Waves, in order to further explore how we may understand color. Here the idea of color, where it originates from, and how it is used to alter meaning, is considered and explored. The recording is 11 minutes 47 seconds long. Within the video are a few surprises.
Dorotha Lemeh, It Came In Waves, animated graphic narrative (11m47s) 2016
To view more still or moving GNCs, please visit the following sections: Works on Paper and Moving Images.
© Dorotha Grace Lemeh
Dorotha Lemeh Portfolio 