Léa Murawiec (Paris, 1994) drew comics that she published in fanzines, and was the first to be surprised by the success of her first book, The Big Void / The Big Buit (Salamander/Finestres), which won the Audience Award at the Comic Book Festival of Angouleme in 2022.
The book portrays a society where people are totally devoted to having a presence, to unsuspected limits, because if they are not taken into account and no one thinks about them, even their health suffers: being famous is important and almost necessary and that is why everywhere there are signs with names of people, so that when reading them they are more present. In this context, Manel Naher is a victim of confusion because there is a famous singer with his name, and that works against him. She, however, does not believe that there is so much and what she wants is to flee, with her friend Ali from her, beyond the great wall that delimits the city, where nobody knows what is there: it is the great void.
For Murawiec, despite the clear criticism of social networks, the narrative goes further: "The first idea was more about death and survival after death through the name that hospitals or streets have, that is, , the desire for immortality and transcendence. Social pressure has to do with the image of you that others have, it is true, but it is not something new, there was already pressure from family, society, friends... social networks amplify it, but the Before, people already wanted to be famous by going on TV or in the newspapers”, she explains. For her, she also talks about "intimacy, what do you show to others and who do you show the things that really matter to you".
The protagonist and her friend are dissidents, and for the author it was about "questioning what we do for ourselves and for others and how to balance it." “Manel goes from one extreme to the other, and I wanted to understand how it happens, because it happens a lot. Why do we abandon the dreams we had when we were young? Why do some become different people? Manel has ideas but perhaps they are not strong enough to overcome the first big problems, health and money, as happens in our world”, she recalls. In addition, the comic is drawn in such a way that explanations are hardly needed, and the only texts there are in the speech bubbles or the names that want to be remembered: “I hope that the reader passes through the atmosphere of this universe without being told : 'Welcome to a dystopian world where people die when you don't think about them'”.
Murawiec acknowledges that the book also reflects some of his fears, as if success can change a person: “That already scared me before the book and it's a paradox. I was also afraid of being jealous of friends who were successful, but as a creator you have to find a balance between what you say to the other and what you say to yourself, not to write too much for others, to be liked, because that's the only way you will get to do what they expect of you and maybe it is not very interesting. Writing a book is sharing, but you write from a certain place, with a certain voice, and it is impossible to get it out of writing. It is also true that if the next book is successful I am afraid of being trapped in a success recipe and I do not want it, so I also try to understand how to age well with creativity, but also as a person.
After all, he reflects, “there are many ways to achieve our dreams and sometimes we get lost and then come back. But when we reach a goal, what happens next?
Thus, the book oscillates between the search for and loss of oneself and the objective of escaping into a nature that "is a metaphor, but at the same time a place with many fantasies: what could you do, if there are magical elements, if you are prepared to start a new life according to your expectations... and perhaps it is an excuse to go about his business, because he is not happy”. And he assures: "Like all my generation, I suffer from eco-anxiety."
Catalan version, here
