A first day devoted to school
Friday May 29 was reserved for middle and high school students in the region. Several classes were able to participate in meetings with the authors and their works.
The students also visited the various exhibitions installed throughout the Military Cultural Center. Among these were:
- Lyon (14-18), dedicated to life in Lyon during the First World War,
- The Blue Squadron around the comic strip by Virginie Ollagnier and Yan Le Pon, to discover the little-known story of this female unit of the Red Cross mobilized in 1945 to repatriate prisoners, conscripts and survivors of concentration camps
- The Escape by Mathieu Rebière, comic book artist present for the occasion, retracing the different stages of creation of the album dedicated to the escape of the resistance fighter André Devigny from Montluc prison in 1943.
- Views for history, drawing and filming the memory trials,who returned to the drawings made by Jean-Claude Bauer, comic book author also present for the occasion during the trial of Klaus Barbie in Lyon.
Young middle and high school students were thus able to discover or rediscover key moments from the different wars that marked the country, in an educational way and through timeless art.
The day concluded with prize giving for the “Bubbles of Memory” competition organized by ONAC-VG, highlighting the work of talented young participants, whose works contribute to the transmission of history through comics.
A Saturday open to the general public
On Saturday May 30, the general public was able to enjoy all the exhibitions free of charge and meet the authors present throughout the day during signing sessions.
The high point of the event, the closing conference entitled “Putting the war into boxes: aesthetic, historical and political issues” brought together Lieutenant-Colonel Eva Renucci, author Yan Le Pon and Nicolas Beaupré, under the moderation of Paul Chopelin. The speakers addressed the challenges linked to the graphic representation of conflicts, the responsibility of authors in the face of history and the place of comics in contemporary work of memory.
Throughout the weekend, “Comics and War” confirmed the ability of comics to transmit history differently, by combining artistic perspectives and historical works.
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