15 February 2024
Edith Hammar and Tiitu Takalo nominated for Comics Finlandia 2024
Two R&B-represented creators are among the ten nominees for Finland’s most appreciated comic art prize Comics Finlandia (Sarjakuva-Finlandia).
Edith Hammar is nominated with their latest graphic novel Portal and Tiitu Takalo and historian researcher Tiina Männistö-Funk with the graphic novel Cycling.
Portal is Edith Hammar’s second graphic novel, published by Förlaget. A beautifully melancholic tale where fantasy and reality, the past and the present, skillfully intertwine to weave a story of longing for a bygone era.
The jury’s motivation:
“Portal is a gateway to emotions. The beautifully linear tone of the work and the characters sometimes stretched into perspective, convey a sense of longing. Longing for the past, for the future, for love or the magic of everyday life. Highlighting local queer history, this work is exactly what the current public discussion on sexual and gender minorities needs.”
In Cycling the reader is taken on a journey through the history of cycling and illustrates how changes made more than 50 years ago still have an impact on our daily lives.
Based on historian Tiina Männistö-Funk’s research on Finnish cycling and comic artist Tiitu Takalo’s experiences as an active cyclist cycling is also an invitation to imagine a different kind of city and discover the many joys of cycling.
The jury’s motivation:
”A beautiful, realistic documentary cartoon explores the history of cycling, linking it to trends in Finnish urban and transport planning. Painting broad historical arcs, the depiction takes on a local tone, being set mainly in the cities of Turku and Tampere. Simultaneously, a general and social examination is intertwined with personal experience.”
Tiitu Takalo
The Comics Finlandia Prize was established in 2007 and is given to a domestic artist or to a group of domestic artists who have created a laudable comic book. The winner will be revealed in March 2024.
Congrats to the nominees!
