“Where are you on your fertility curve? At 32 years old, she is here.” Forming a stable couple in the 21st century seems to be an increasingly complicated task. Greater pressure is added to those women who also want to be mothers and their environment suggests that if they do not hurry, their time will pass. Claire is a neonatal nurse practitioner. While her work gives her great satisfaction, she finds her personal life frustrating as she cannot establish a lasting bond with anyone, until she meets Franck. But reality will contrast greatly with the ideal that society imposed on Claire's mind.
Standardized Ideal (Garbuix Books), is the latest graphic novel by French author Aude Picault. “I wanted to talk about the social pressure on women to have a partner and family, but I couldn't just talk about my experience, so I read many feminist books and listened to different stories before condensing the problem into a story,” explains Picault in conversation with The vanguard. The creator of Amalia and Goddess started from classics such as A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and The Children of Jocasta by Christiane Olivier to create Claire, a protagonist who effectively condenses the problems that many women go through around the world. “Many come up to me and tell me that they felt that the book was the story of their life.”
From aesthetic pressure to constant objectification and comparison; problems of coexistence and sexuality in couples, as well as hasty motherhood or the decision to abort. “My first version of the story was more aggressive, but I didn't want to convey violence. “I wanted it to be comforting.” The problems that Picault addresses are not new, but few authors managed to portray them in such an effective way. “It's good that you can recognize yourself in this character and not feel alone.” The author is not trying to be innovative but genuine.
“Why I draw the way I draw is a mystery, I think it is due to the hours of practice that helped me develop my own style.” Just a few pastel tones color Aude Picault's delicate drawings. The author manages to introduce the audience to realistic scenes with simple lines, without overloading the settings with superfluous ornaments. “I had to wait two years to be admitted to the neonatal hospital and be able to talk to real nurses.” For two months, the author spent an entire day a week in a neonatal hospital in Paris, drawing and capturing as many paintings as possible.
Although the feminist struggle has made the representation of women in fiction diversify a little more, for Aude Picault there is still a long way to go. “In the cinema, for example, which is seen by many people, we always see the same characters,” especially on a physical level, “all actresses have to be beautiful, it is a terrible problem.”
There are no plans for Standardized Ideal to have a second part. “I already said what I wanted to say,” explains the artist in reference to Claire's character. But Amalia, another of her books, could be considered a continuation of this story.
