STORY CREDITS

Writer/Editor: Shivangi Vasudev Bhatt

Photo: Media and Communication, IIT Gandhinagar

The two-day Conclave was lined up with a series of exciting talks and interactive sessions with celebrated graphic novelists and artists like Orijit Sen, Amruta Patil, Sarnath Banerjee, Nikhil Gulati, Pinaki De, Debkumar Mitra, and Gayatri Menon.

With an aim to bridge the gap between academia and the world of storytelling through comics, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in partnership with its Social Action and Policy Lab, supported by the UNICEF, organised “Comics Conclave” on its campus on January 21-22, 2023. The two-day Conclave was lined up with a series of exciting talks and interactive sessions with celebrated graphic novelists, artists, filmmakers, and academic scholars.

Orijit Sen, Graphic novelist, artist, and designer, talked about the ‘Story behind River of Stories’ and his current projects; Amruta Patil, Graphic novelist and artist, delivered a talk on ‘Graphic Movement’; Sarnath Banerjee, Graphic novelist, artist, and filmmaker, engaged in a dialogue on ‘Water Wars in Delhi’; Pinaki De, Comics scholar, educator, and designer, discussed ‘The Sketchbook of Satyajit Ray and a Missed Encounter with Comics’; Nikhil Gulati, Graphic novelist, gave a talk on ‘Time Travel through Comics: Exploring India’s Past’; Debkumar Mitra, Founder and editor of Longform Collective, educator and painter, delivered a talk on ‘Longform Story: the Long and Short of It’; and Gayatri Menon, Design educator, researcher, and artist, discussed ‘Traditional Indian Storytelling’.

They were joined by academic scholars and faculty members of the discipline of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) and Cognitive Science at IITGN, including Dr T S Kumbar, Prof Jaison Manjaly, Prof Nishaant Choksi, Prof Leslee Lazar, Prof Arka Chattopadhyay, Prof Deepak Singhania, Prof Madhumita Sengupta, Prof Argha Manna, Prof Ambika Aiyadurai, and Avani Varia.

The event also witnessed the book release of Orijit Sen’s “River of Stories” (25th anniversary edition), India’s first graphic novel, on January 21 morning.

Book release of Orijit Sen’s “River of Stories” (25th anniversary edition)

Participants during one of the talks at the Conclave

Alternative comics have become one of the favourite tools to express and narrate memories, socio-political issues, gender issues, environment, history, and many other subject matters that come under the umbrella of academic research. Along with being an entertaining medium, comics have been emerging as a pedagogical tool for critical thinking as well. The Comics Conclave at IITGN created a space in which academicians and comics artists/graphic novelists were able to exchange thoughts, engage in dialogues, and synthesise hybrid knowledge. Prof Argha Manna and Prof Jaison Manjaly

Co-organisers of the Conclave

In addition, the Conclave turned out to be remarkable event for visual narrative and film enthusiasts as they got a chance to delve into the lesser-known artistic side of the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray. With “An Exhibition of Low Art”, the Institute exhibited some select and curated images from the original sketchbook of Satyajit Ray with support from Mr Sandeep Ray, eminent filmmaker and son of Satyajit Ray, and Pinaki De, Comics scholar, designer, and Associate Professor at the Department of English, Raja Peary Mohan College, University of Calcutta.

This included a few prints of the pages from his original sketchbook, which were selected specifically for this event at IITGN, and reflected his approach to the sequential graphic narrative and how it supplemented his cinematic language.

It is a known fact that Satyajit Ray was a comics enthusiast, and his personal collection of comics (now archived at his residence) can be the envy of many. Despite his abiding interest in sequential graphic narratives recorded in many interviews across time, there is very little to show in terms of his active engagement with the form. The only published evidence comes in the form of four comic strips that he did for the covers of Sandesh magazine. However, if we delve deeper into his notebooks and sketchbooks, we can see him playing around with ideas about this visual form. In fact, he presented “Pather Panchali” and “Ravishankar” (a film that never materialised) in the form of a sequential visual script in the 1950s.

Apart from this, the “Exhibition of Low Art” also showcased comics by Orijit Sen, Sarnath Banerjee, Amruta Patil, Nikhil Gulati, Longform Collective, and artworks and artefacts on Indian Traditional storytelling by students of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (mentored by Gayatri Menon). The exhibition was curated by Prof Argha Manna, Artist-in-Residence, IITGN.

Select and curated images from the original sketchbook of Satyajit Ray

Work of Amruta Patil

Work of Debkumar Mitra being viewed by the visitors

Work of Nikhil Gulati being viewed by visitors

Work of Orijit Sen

Work of Sarnath Banerjee

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