Nove Antico: “From madonnas to whores, violence against women is always linked to their sexuality”

On the occasion of the Angoulême comics festival, which takes place from 25 to 28 January, we met Nine Antico. He took us behind the scenes of an album with a gothic flavor, but inhabited by multiple desires for freedom and emancipation.

To miss. How would you introduce Madonnas and Whores to someone who hasn’t read it?

Nine Ancient. These are three macabre tales in southern Italy in the 20th century. Stories of young women whose wishes have been frustrated, which come to haunt the stories. In every story, there is someone who should not desire, but who nevertheless desires.

What is the genesis of comics?

I have been going to Southern Italy since I was a child. There’s all this pious iconography that It fascinated and scared me at the same time and which also belonged to a place where every summer I blossomed a little more, sensually, sensorially… it’s Italy, the sea, the nudity. It is a sensorial awakening which was contrasted, inside the houses, with these sometimes macabre images, the shutters closed to keep the sun out, and these Madonnas who kept vigil.

Why did you choose to set your story in the last century?

First of all it is the century I was born in since I was born in 1981. The stories I tell are not that far from me. And at the same time, I always like to look back in my comics to see how the past resonates with the present.

In this regard, the jury of the Artémésia prize, which was awarded to you at the beginning of January, writes: “Nove Antico allows us to see, and think about, the female condition in the Italian chauvinistic world of the twentieth century, not fundamentally different from the subsequent one. »

We must be vigilant, never believing that the victory against machismo is achieved. I am always struck by the size the invisibility of women and the trivialization of the violence they suffer. It is their sexuality that is targeted and judged. It’s so integrated into the stories, into the films, that there’s something to dissect, to deconstruct. I like looking at ambiguities, contradictions and wondering what a “bad girl” is…

It’s quite rare to see these norms deconstructed thanks to such a dark and gothic aesthetic…

YES. I really wanted to move towards something romantic gothic. There is something fascinating about the silhouette and faces of these young girls. It’s a bit like the body innocent teenagerBut who is not as innocent as society would have us believe.

What interested you in this figure of the Madonna, the saint?

It seemed very close to what happened with the witches and like the Inquisition they tortured them and projected sexuality onto her. This has always been the argument brandished against women. Of the three characters in the comic, two wanted to consecrate themselves to God rather than get married. They were placed in a brothel to test their faith. Sexuality is at the center of this ordeal. Clearly, Madonna or whore, it is the same vertigo as violence. Trials against women always concern their sexual morality. Either we blame them for not giving in, or we blame them for being too greedy. It is in the light of sexuality that our honor and dignity are decided.

Through its narrative and aesthetic, Madonna and Whore evokes a film, is this your wish?

I came to comics because I allowed myself to imagine and tell similar stories I’ll make a movie. This is my way of seeing comics. My cinematic inspirations can be felt in my work. I was particularly influenced by Skinbook by Malaparte which Liliana Cavani made into a film in 1981.

However, I must say that on this album in particular I worked a lot on the writing, so that the narrative was twisted and clear. I was looking for this aspect story we tell ourselves next to the fire.

Do you consider yourself a feminist comics author?

When I make a comic or something, I have no message to convey. I like the idea feminism exudes from every pore. I am steeped in feminism because I have a fierce desire for equality and freedom among human beings. It really challenged me to know what woman I am, what woman I want to be.

In my books I highlight an obsession, a question every time. So I guess my feminism shines through, but when I create it, I don’t tell myself “I do feminist work”.

From 25 to 28 January, the Angoulême festival is dedicating an exhibition to you. What can you find there?

This exhibition is called “Room with a View” because it talks aboutagreedbut which does not refer to one aspect Female. The word room resonates as a moment of looking at each other, but if there is “with a view” it is above all because the idea is to look behind the window, at the other’s house to see inside the intimate and the banal, that which is tortured and which is actually universal.

As a child I loved children’s books and Advent calendars and the goal is to transcribe this diversity in my works today. The principle of the exhibition is to put my comics, my fanzines, my illustration books on the same level.