Comics as a catalyst for change

Comics as a catalyst for change

Promoting diversity in SelfMadeHero's Graphic Anthology Programme

An illustration of two giant hands holding a person who appears to be in a lunar landscape. Text boxes surround the character. They read: "You will never get to feel that freedom / He will never know how it feels to have it / To be like you / But he carries a part of you with him. You are all around him / Your fingers have sewn a new world for him. Your hands are keeping him alive.

Catalyst is a collection of 11 short stories, the result of SelfMadeHero’s Graphic Anthology Programme. Supported through our National Lottery Project Grants, the programme was designed to develop, publish and promote emerging creators of colour from across the UK.

The Graphic Anthology Programme saw seven participants complete an intensive 12 weeks of comics mentoring and masterclasses. This culminated in each participant – along with their mentors – producing an eight-page graphic short story, all of which have been combined into the anthology. Showcasing a mix of established and emerging artists, this collection imagines the myriad ways in which a chain of events might end in either euphoria or catastrophe.

We’ve collaborated with SelfMadeHero to produce a picture essay showcasing snapshots from each of the artists’ work to celebrate diversity in comic arts.

Scroll, swipe or flick through to find out more about the artists involved and explore their work.

An illustration of a series of boxes that are connected with a complex tangle of wires.
An abstract illustration of a long liquid-like shape made up different shades of pink, red and yellow. In the centre of the shape are a constellation of stars.
An abstract illustration of a television unit connected to a giant eyeball via a wire that appears to be on fire

The Host
by Catherine Anyango Grünewald

In The Host a person discovers that his online actions in Zoom manifest in real life, with fatal consequences. The story is about the desire to play God and how we react to having power and responsibility.

Catherine Anyango Grünewald. is a published graphic novelist and teacher. She taught at the Royal College of Art in London for 10 years and is now a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm.

A comic strip featuring an illustration of a statue of a person made of stone shattered on the floor. Beneath, a man in a white shirt types on a laptop. Text on the comic reads: "mother / can you hear me? / you're frozen"
A comic strip page featuring black and white illustrations of a man at a laptop and a white silhouette of a person emerging from the darkness.

Happily Never After
by Asia Alfasi

Happily Never After celebrates women’s central role in shaping the Arabian storytelling tradition, and bringing it to the fore, in a tribute honouring all the brilliant invisible grandmothers who taught and inspired generations of storytellers.

Asia Alfasi is an award-winning British Libyan graphic novelist. Born in Libya in 1984, she spent her formative years first in Tripoli, and then in Glasgow, Scotland, after migrating there with her family. Asia focuses on comics’ potential for humanising issues and bringing the plight of often marginalised peoples to the fore.

A comic strip featuring women in ornately decorated dresses dancing in a deserts with camels behind them. The text on the comic reads: "The tale I tell you tonight takes place a long time ago, and is about a sultan and his duaghter..."

Orbital Decay
by Pris Lemons

In this story, two characters are at a party and their relationship is based on the scientific process of catalysis. Symbolically, they act as the catalyst and the chemical reactant for an emotional transformation represented through physical transformation.

Pris Lemons is a queer comics artist from the Cayman Islands, who now lives in Scotland. Their work is autobiographical, focusing on gender and sexuality through character design. Colour, symbolism and humour are key elements of their work, which explores sensitivity and vulnerability via difficult narratives drawn from their own queer experience.

A hand drawn comic strip. A female character drinks from a can. A male character smokes a cigarette. Text on the comic reads: "I see you in half of me / fondling tin and ash"
A comic strip. In each panel a male character walks across a chequered floor. A female character crushes a can that she has been drinking from. The text in the comic reads: "Are you in my eyes? / Like those of my oldest loves from which In fled..."

One Small Thing
by Dominique Duoung

One Small Thing is a dark horror story about a supernatural being who causes the little things in life that have catastrophic, life-changing effects. However, Red soon comes to learn that meddling in human affairs beyond its assigned duties can have far-reaching consequences…

Dominique Duong is an illustrator and comics artist living and working in London. Fascinated by the macabre, the surreal and the magical, and influenced by mythology, fairy tales, nature and folklore, Dominique creates diverse, queer fantasy and horror stories.

A comic strip featuring a womwoman in a red hat with yellow eyes and sharp teeth. There are several text boxes which read: "But now they'd experienced the heady rush of power they had over humanity. Tasted the sweetness of man's fear and despair... / A shoulder to cry on for a grieving wife after red killed her husband. / A series of fun dates... / A friendship with a mother whose son Red planned to take away. / Did red ever stop to doubt? Yes, but only once.

The Guessing Game
by Jason Chuang

In The Guessing Game two strangers meet on a night train, and their interaction starts to unlock pieces of their memories from the past, carrying them towards an unknown destination. 

Born in Taiwan, Jason Chuang moved to the UK at 15, pursued an illustration degree at Falmouth University and subsequently completed an MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art. He is interested in the exploration of human emotions via symbolic imagery coated with elements of the absurd and the poetic.

A comic strip featuring an illustration of a man and a woman on a subway train. There are multiple copies of the same man and woman sat all along the carriage. The dialogue in the scene reads: "I start to remember things. / Why did this all feel so familiar?" There are several speech bubbles from the male characters which say "Where are you heading?" and the female character replies "I don't remember"

The Camera
by Shuning Ji

Shuning Ji's The Camera is about a photographer who inadvertently captures the scene of a murder. The characters’ destinies are linked by the camera, and their situations are switched because of it.

Shuning Ji studied illustration as a postgraduate at The University of Edinburgh. She is a comicbook artist and character designer, and is currently working on a comic about Chinese slang. Born in China, Shuning now lives and works in Edinburgh.

In this comic strip a man is unboxing a new camera in his flat
In this panel of the comic, we see the man's viewpoint through the lens of his camera. He focuses on a cat and seagull fighting over a bin, and then a plane in the sky, and then the city skyline

Just Like Me
by Sonia Leong

With the rising popularity and acceptance of diary comics in Just Like Me, Sonia has written a story about a day in her life, and the impact she has on others.

Sonia Leong is a comics/manga illustrator and author of drawing guides. Her debut graphic novel was the Manga Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet, and her most recent book was Great Lives: Marie Curie. She is the Director of Sweatdrop Studios, an independent comics publisher based in the United Kingdom.

In this comic, an illustration of a woman in a suit giving a lecture to a large class of young people. The dialogue reads:Manga is the Japanese word for comics and cartooning. So it's used to describe comics from Japan, or drawn in the same style. But it doesn't all look the same! there are so many different types of Manga... Manga artists use screentone to shade their work"

Same Tall Tale
by Tyrell Osborne

This short story is about a character’s inner workings of who he is, from how he perceives himself compared to how he thinks other people view him. Same Tall Tale explores the difficulties the character face when connecting with others, himself, his race and his city.

Tyrell Osborne is interested in exploring both personal and commercial projects, and has previously created protest posters for recent political and global events, a graphic novel, an illustrated biography, film posters, intimate family portraits and a panoramic narrative. Tyrell lives and works in London.

A comic strip featuring a conversation with two people in a forest. the dialogue reads: "Whether you want to believe it or not, you need me partner! No hard feelings? It's just business. You get it right? ...Hello?" / "Why don't we stroll down here?" / "Alright..."

Cetea and Clay
by Charlotte Bailey

Cetea and Clay is about a shape shifter at a crossroads, deciding whether to follow her dreams or her instincts.

Charlotte Bailey is a Birmingham-based cartoonist, whose work explores Black British heritage and potential futures. Her work has been widely exhibited, including at the Angoulême Comics Festival and London’s Cartoon Museum, and was published in the celebrated anthology The Inking Woman.

A comic strip depicting two people in a life raft in the middle of the ocean having a conversation. there is a large whale just beneath them in the water and large tidal wave approaching them. The text on the second panel reads: "The ocean is where I belong. / In the water... / ...I can be anything at all."

Because I’ve Got All of You
by Calico N.M

In Because I’ve Got All of You, three eccentric dads help rescue their rowdy three-year-old baby from loneliness by bringing a second baby into existence with the power of alchemy.

Calico N.M. is a comics artist, illustrator and animator. Born in Egypt and now living in the UK, they have created a number of small, self-published zines and webcomics, as well as being featured in community-based illustration anthologies under the pen name Neomints.

An illustrated comic strip of three creatures staring through the arched entrance of a large library or study filled with books and fantastical contraptions.

Convolute
by Woodrow Phoenix

Convolute tells the story of Hazel Fellows: When NASA began the Apollo program to land a man on the moon in 1969, they needed spacesuits to keep them alive. Those suits were made entirely by hand, stitched by women who had formerly been making bras and girdles for Playtex. Team leader of those seamstresses was Hazel Fellows, a Black woman whose contribution has been completely forgotten.

Woodrow Phoenix is a writer, artist and graphic designer based in London and Cambridge. His work has appeared in national UK newspapers, in magazines and comics collections internationally and in television projects for Walt Disney and Cartoon Network. Woodrow is a Visiting Lecturer in Graphic Novels at Middlesex University.

An illustration of two giant hands holding a person who appears to be in a lunar landscape. Text boxes surround the character. They read: "You will never get to feel that freedom / He will never know how it feels to have it / To be like you / But he carries a part of you with him. You are all around him / Your fingers have sewn a new world for him. Your hands are keeping him alive.

CATALYST: A new graphic anthology

Find out more

An abstract illustration of a long liquid-like shape made up different shades of pink, red and yellow. In the centre of the shape are a constellation of stars.

Reaction - Art by Sajan Rai. Typography by Txabi Jones

Reaction - Art by Sajan Rai. Typography by Txabi Jones

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