Tola Onanunga has recently written a piece for The Guardian about the Comix Creatrix show at the House of Illustration, where Audrey is exhibiting excerpts from The Night Bookmobile. Here is an excerpt:
When Angoulême, one of the world’s biggest comic-book festivals, failed to include a single woman on its 30-strong Grand Prix shortlist earlier this month, it prompted fury and threats of a boycott from several prominent artists and campaigners. Female artists have been present since the very inception of comic art, helping to shape and define an industry that has seen tremendous growth in recent years – so why is their contribution so often overlooked?
Many people simply choose to believe the persistent, but inaccurate, myth that there are very few female creators in the industry, says Olivia Ahmad, the co-curator of a new exhibition, Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics, which seeks to prove otherwise. Working with journalist and comics enthusiast Paul Gravett, Ahmad has selected a diverse array of work – spanning as far back as the 18th century – for the House of Illustration show in central London.
Comix Creatrix is the UK’s biggest ever exhibition of comic artwork produced by women, much of it going on display for the first time. Although the show focuses on artists working today, it will also feature pioneers of the medium, including Mary Darly, who was among the first professional caricaturists in England. Darly’s 1775 portrait, Corporal Perpendicular, is the earliest work in the exhibition and will be exhibited alongside art by Audrey Niffenegger, Posy Simmonds, Sarah Lightman and Kate Brown.
Click here to read the entire article.