A journey riding a Virago motorbike through the Balkans; two very good authors, Silvia Rocchi and Alice Milani; a graphic novel: Tumulto, Eris Edizioni. For the first time, a story that was entirely written, scripted and illustrated by the two of them, together.
How did Tumulto came into being? From which idea and need for describing? What took you to the Balkans in those places full of history?
A: I have some family friends from Belgrade, I had already gone visit them with my parents many years ago and I’ve always thought that I’d liked to see those places again when I had grown up, especially to visit them on my own. Geographically speaking, it’s not so far from us, it’s not a particularly overrated destination and the idea to explore a place that offers beautiful landscapes has been stimulating from the start. We were also interested in the history of the country, about which we had read and heard about. I’d say that it was curiosity that took us there.
S: Alice and I have known each other for about 15 years, we’ve always worked side-by-side since school and, even if our academic careers took different paths, we remained very attached. In 2013, Alice went for a journey in the Balkans with a friend of hers and in 2014 we went again together but we visited different places. We were already thinking about the idea of doing something together that could unite us artistically and that wasn’t strictly linked with a proper “comic book”.
So, the story has been created little by little… during of after the journey?
A: The idea of the story grew gradually once we came back because we actually made the most of our journey experiences. In fact, we recount many episodes that did really happen. The month spent travelling was really rich and stimulating, not only for the places we passed through, but especially for the people we met. And for their stories, their attitude for a communal recent past. That’s what inevitably formed the body of our text.
Did you meet people who made you understand better the background you were travelling through during your journey? Are some of the characters real, then?
S: In Belgrade, we met Eugenio Berra, the guy who wrote the preface. He takes care of responsible tourism in the Balkans, he has a very detailed approach and is very prepared on the historic side. In the preface of the book he managed to contextualise the context. One of the characters that already existed, and, moreover, one of my favourites, is the boy that brings the main characters on the Drina river.
A: We need to keep in mind that, within a few miles, you find very different opinions about the past. There are some that, like this boy, don’t want to have hard feelings anymore and act positive; but there also some places where you can feel the resentment. You breathe it in the stories of the people you meet.
How did you get ready? Did you do a lot of reading or did you use your instinct?
A: My mum borrowed us her motorbike and we are very grateful.
S: In preparation for the journey I got a motorbike licence; Alice already had one.
A: We got some inspiration from Ivo Andrić’s The Bridge on the Drina. But we aimed at a lively screenplay. We didn’t want to write a text focusing on history and politics (Joe Sacco-like, to put it clear); we aimed at a coming-of-age novel.
The history of the place mixes up with the past as punk rock musicians of the two main characters travelling towards the Drina. It’s a highly symbolic river where the major battles during the Bosnian war took place. It’s a borderland, a place of redefinition of identities, as Berra says, that today represents the hope for a reunification and where the main characters have to deal with their past…
S: We decided to make up a background as musicians for the two main characters because music allowed us to create a sort of comparison with artistic inspiration. We created the link with the lyrics of a song which talked about that river, with the innocence and naivety of two 16-year-old girls.
Talking about the lyrics of the song you’ve written: “Defeated by pride, overwhelmed with torpidity, astonishment is your obsession. Keep on, yeah, keep on pretending to be deaf, our consciences whistle like bullets on the Drina”.
Where do these lines come from?
S: We wrote the lyrics ourselves to make it look as extreme as possible.
It’s explosive as some Italian hardcore punk gigs, especially from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s a bit rhetorical, very authoritative for its apocalyptic mood.
A: It’s exactly what the main characters want to deal with. They realise that this very apocalyptic, excessive and rhetorical mood is not to be used anymore, even if it had a very important role in their artistic education and life.
Speaking of which, you, Silvia, uploaded a soundtrack for Tumulto on your Youtube channel: I recommend that the readers listen to it while reading your graphic-novel. Is there anything autobiographical in this background as musicians?
S: In the text, what’s linked with the history of music kind of reflects my tastes. But the past of both of us is in there. We went to hardcore punk gigs together all around Italy, even if I was the most passionate of the genre. It’s been an important part of our adolescence. It was cool, there was something very spontaneous and immediate in some of the lyrics.
What did you do for the illustrations? Did you use notes, live sketches, photographs?
A: We took a lot of pictures and we both used a personal sketchbook that we gradually filled up with drawings from different places.
How are these works different in the approach and method from your previous ones?
A: The writing part has been by far the most difficult. When you’re commissioned a work, let’s say about someone’s life, you base your work on that character and, more or less, you know what to do. The starting point is a bit easier. We had instead to define what we wanted to tell and how. We did a new comic book from scratch for the first time. The writing part took us a lot of time and it was long and demanding.
S: However, once the storyboard was ready, we could outline the scenes precisely, in order to make our work side by side easier. Having found the right way to do it, we followed our schedule regularly.
Did you split the scenes or did you both draw trying to find balance?
A: At the beginning we tried to be systematic, but then we realised that it was better to decide what to do scene after scene. There’s not a real rule, no character is always drawn by one of us. The only scene in which there’s an actual division of the work is the prologue: as the two main characters are separated, I drew the tables of one of them and Silvia took care of the others. Otherwise, we’ve always worked together, in the same place, even sharing a table.
S: We had one rule only: never work separately.
A: Each of us saw what the other was doing and could adjust her work consequently. Despite the fact that each of us could work on her own table for the entire afternoon, we could see each other’s works anytime. We could adapt to each other naturally. If we had tried to work separately, our figures would have probably been too different from one another.
Silvia Rocchi was born in 1986 in Pisa. She is part of the organisation La Trama, for which she creates independent comics. She is the author of Alda Merini’s biography, Ci sono notti che non accadono mai, Canto a fumetti per Alda Merini, and of Tiziano Terzani’s one, L’esistenza delle formiche, both edited by BeccoGiallo and published in 2012 and 2013. She illustrated the story written by F.Riccioni, Il segreto di Majorana, (2015, Rizzoli) and Diego Martelli’s I giorni del vino e delle rose (2016, Valigie Rosse). In 2015 she won the prize “Nuove Strade”, assigned to the young drawers of the festival Napoli Comicon.
I think that the fresh, improvised, sketch-like technique is suitable for a travel story and it’s rhythmical. A differently coloured brush stroke is enough to inspire a change of scene.
A: We made use of colours a lot. Every scene had its own palette. There are not many words in comics, but there are many things which can be told with colours only. In the dream scene, the fact that everything is so purple and dirty help us re-establish a feeling of anguish. The flashback in the museum instead, with its salmon pink shade, aims to recall a memory.
S: These tricks allows you to open a window on the storyline. It’s the summary that comes from someone who is used to painting.
The mixture of pastels, acrylics colours, pencils and watercolours is your signature style and it seems to make everything more experienced and material.
A: We always use many kinds of colours, ecoline, acrylics, tempera, pencils, rubber.
We don’t have a firmly traditional approach to comics; we’re not cultists of the “clean” drawing.
Is it important to read a lot to tell stories? What are you reading at the moment?
A: We both read a lot. Personally, sometimes I dedicate myself to novels and sometimes to comics.
S: It’s important to create an underworld of stories. I’m now reading Joe Kubert’s Fax from Sarajevo for a “retrospective” research: it’s very historic and detailed.
Which illustrators did influence you the most?
A: There are plenty of them. I really like Chris Ware: even if his illustrations are very different from mine, he is a brilliant storyteller. I also like Gipi, especially in Questa è la stanza (This is the room), which tells the story of a group of guys who want to make music.
S: I’d say Dominique Goblet, a well-rounded Belgian painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Different techniques blend together in her work. I’m really inspired by her. And then there’s Alberto Breccia: I have to admit that I discovered his work late, but I admire him a lot.
Was it easy to find a publisher for your work?
A: It took us a while. However, when Eris answered us we realised they were the right publishers: they are young and they perfectly understood the message of our book; actually, they helped us understand it better. They got the message of picking a period of your past and making peace with it; it was perfect for them and that’s why it was an excellent union.
What would you like to transmit to the readers of Tumulto?
S: The desire to travel with somebody you can share experiences with, because friendships are various and unique. It may sound like a cliché but that’s what I want to tell the readers.
A: Tumulto is a coming-of-age novel, but it’s also a travel story and it’s a great ode to the joy of riding a motorbike around.
Treviso Comic Book Festival, 24th of September, exhibition of the original tables and presentation of Tumulto with Alice Milani and Silvia Rocchi.
Alice Milani was born in 1986 in Pisa. She studied Art (painting) in Turin and she majored in engraving and printing techniques in Bruxelles. In 2010 she started creating comics with the organisation she collaborates with, La Trama. Her first graphic novel, Wisława Szymborska.Si da il caso che io sia qui (Wisława Szymborska. It just so happened that I am), was released in 2015 (BeccoGiallo); it’s dedicated to the poet, winner of the Nobel prize and it was translated into Polish.
Silvia Rocchi was born in 1986 in Pisa. She is part of the organisation La Trama, for which she creates independent comics. She is the author of Alda Merini’s biography, Ci sono notti che non accadono mai, Canto a fumetti per Alda Merini, and of Tiziano Terzani’s one, L’esistenza delle formiche, both edited by BeccoGiallo and published in 2012 and 2013. She illustrated the story written by F.Riccioni, Il segreto di Majorana, (2015, Rizzoli) and Diego Martelli’s I giorni del vino e delle rose (2016, Valigie Rosse). In 2015 she won the prize “Nuove Strade”, assigned to the young drawers of the festival Napoli Comicon.