From english.radio.cz
Rachael Smith is a young, comic artist from the UK, who has just undertaken a three-week residency programme in Prague, organised by the Czech Literary Centre in cooperation with the International Lakes Comic Art Festival. During her stay she recorded her life in the Czech capital through short comic strips, which she immediately shared with her fans online.
I met with Racheal on the last day of her residency to discuss her work and her impressions from the Czech Republic, but I started by asking what brought her here in the first place:
“It was actually the Lakes festival that suggested me as a resident here to the Czech Literary Centre [a section of the Moravian Library], and luckily for me, they accepted me, so here I am.”
What did you work on during your stay in Prague?
“I am mainly known for my auto-bio comics, or my diary comics, so I thought while I was here, I would just make diary comics about my experiences here, about soaking up the culture and learning about how people live.
“So I have just been making comics every day about my experiences. And it was important for me that I could make the comics and upload them online so that my fans could come on the journey with me, in a sense. So that’s what I wanted to do!”
I believe this was your first visit to Prague. What was your impression of the city and what was it like working in a completely different environment? Did you find it inspiring?
“Yes, I have never been to the Czech Republic before. It is so beautiful and I have really loved it here. It’s been very different working here. There was a lot of restrictions and I don’t have all the materials I am used to having. But that was good, in a sense.
“I think having restrictions on how you can work sometimes force you to be more creative with what you are saying in your work. And, as I said, it is just breathtakingly beautiful here. So I hope I have done it justice in my drawings!”
What did you like about Prague? Did you have time to visit places?
“The apartment I am staying in is quite close to Vyšehrad, which is really beautiful and I have been there several times already. Otherwise, I just love walking around the centre. I love all the squares and I love how Prague has a lot of green spaces. I guess London has that a little bit, but it seems Prague really considers it important to have green spaces.”
I know that you also tried to learn some Czech….
“Yes, I can say hello, and thank you, and ask for a glass of red wine. But otherwise, I struggle.”
You recently published a comic collection called Quarantine Comix, written and drawn every day during the 2020 lockdown. What inspired you to start doing these comics? Was it a sort of therapy, a way to overcome your loneliness?
“During the lockdown I was trapped away from my partner and I couldn’t see him for a long time, so I went into a bit of a depression.
“My friend Heather suggested that if I am good at anything, it is making people feel less alone through my comics. So I started documenting what I did every day, which made me do things every day and it was actually very cathartic.
“I started putting the comics online and a lot of people told me that they were helping them, that they made them feel less alone. So I just carried on and they ended up being put in this lovely book.”
Do you record your life regularly, or does it only happen in unusual moments, such as the lockdown?
“I have done in the past. One of my most famous books is called Wired up Wrong, which is a black diary comics about my experiences with mental health and my issues with depression and anxiety, talking about my coping mechanism with that.
“I have another one called Stand in Your Power, which is a very similar book about going through a break-up and relationship issues. I made them sound very bleak, but they are actually very funny!
“So I am known for my diary comics and it felt very natural that that would be what I would do on my residency in Prague.”
What has drawn you to the genre of diary comics in the first place? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this genre?
“It was ten years ago, when my therapist suggested that I start drawing, because I told her it was something I loved to do. She suggested that I draw something every day that was good that happened to me, to try to be more positive about life.
“So I started doing that and I started putting them online and I called the project One Good Thing. And I just found that really helpful and cathartic to get it out there. Also, the added benefit that I wasn’t expecting was that it actually helped other people. This has helped me think more positively about life.
“So at that point I thought: this is actually quite important, I should continue doing things like this. So then I wrote Wired up Wrong, and from there, it kind of snowballed.
“I don’t do diary comics every day, but when I do, it’s very rewarding. It’s a kind of instant gratification putting them online and having people immediately come back and say: Oh this is great.”
“So I put my comics on my Twitter and my Facebook and my Instagram and people comment on them and talk about them.”
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