"I wanted to produce a book on the Maison des Femmes by offering the most complete panorama of any form of violence exerted on women",
Nicolas Wild aspired for his comic strip report
At the Maison des Femmes.
Domestic violence, mistreating families, excisions, forced marriages ... In nearly two hundred pages, the book evokes many facets of brutality against women.
Nicolas Wild spent two years interviewing doctors, volunteers and victims of violence at the Maison des Femmes de La Plaine Saint-Denis. Based on a dozen testimonies including victims and nursing staff, the book salutes these contemporary heroines struggling to regain their scorned dignity, to ensure that life takes over. Both edifying and moving, it plunges the reader, without voyeurism, into the harsh daily life of Nour, Sophie or Valentine, marked by the physical, mental and social decline imposed on them by the tyranny of a man or by cruel family traditions. While evoking the path of their reconstruction.
The author also explores the reality of those who daily strive to support them in this process.
"Over the course of my report, the Maison des Femmes has received between fifty and 80 people in one day," said
Nicolas Wild.
How to combine empathy and the distance necessary to remain professional?
Maintain energy in the face of insoluble cases?
His presence of mind in the face of the most extreme cases?
These are all questions that dot the book.
And with a probity that honors them, doctors, nursing staff and volunteers each provide their own solution to remain efficient and not to sink into disarray.
The BD box: decryption of Nicolas Wild
Will Sophie take the hand that is extended to her?
Nicolas Wild / Delcourt
“The board illustrates a memory of one of my heroines, Sophie, on vacation with her boyfriend somewhere in South America. It is a scene where the latter, interventionist, forces her to drink a beer when she prefers to have a glass of wine. This generates a scandal and he hits her in the middle of the street. In the previous plate, the mother, present, does nothing. In violence against women, mothers-in-law tend to be in denial to protect their sons, downplaying the facts. The health of their beautiful daughter does not matter to them. Here, she even thinks that Sophie has adopted an eccentric behavior by refusing to follow her son's orders "You're a little bit crazy, but deep down we like you" she will tell him in the next page. The album allowed me to shed light on the troubled role of the mothers ofviolent men.
The classic die-cut, nine-box waffle iron type works well with my storytelling system.
Like a musical score that imposes a rhythm on the story.
Two boxes are essential, the one in the middle and the last one with a small cliffhanger, an end left in suspense: will Sophie take the hand that is extended to her?
"For me it was important to underline this more positive facet of the man in order to show that the relationship between men and women is not just a matter of struggle"
Nicolas wild
The pedestrian crossing of the middle box drawn in filigree represents the switch between two realities. The white bands on a black background mark the space of the strokes. I blend them to show Sophie's dismay. She is stunned and lost in the middle of the street, reality becomes blurred as if put in parentheses. However, like a crossfade in the cinema, this pedestrian crossing which gradually disappears lets see this woman. On a white background, she appears as an angel, accompanied by a gentle man who is far removed from the behavior of her spouse. For me it was important to underline this more positive facet of the man in order to show that the relationship between men and women is not only a matter of struggle.
Graphically, I use a fairly soft realistic line and favor black and white.
I particularly appreciate it for its elegance and its way of representing reality.
In general, I favored a graphic universe as simple and readable as possible, allowing me to highlight the subject and the staging.
I want the reader to forget the drawing, once in the story, to leave plenty of room for the subject, even if sometimes I like to draw more elaborate boards ”.
At the Maison des Femmes,
Nicolas Wild, Delcourt encrages, 17.95 euros.