René.e in the dormant woods, comic book critics' prize

René.e aux bois dormants

by Elene Usdin received the ACBD Critics' Grand Prize this Tuesday.

The album succeeds Peau d'Homme by Zanzim and Hubert.

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the psychedelic dream catcher

Graphically breathtaking, this 272-page graphic novel - done in watercolor and gouache - tells the spooky odyssey of René, a little Aboriginal boy from Canada in search of his roots.

Raised by a white adoptive mother, he forgot about his family and his people.

A direct reference to the “Sixties Scoop”, a brutal attempt to assimilate 20,000 indigenous children torn from their homes.

Multiple influences

Published on September 1, 2021 by Sarbacane editions,

is the first comic strip by the designer, until then illustrator and photographer. Multiple artists inspire Elene Usdin, including the jack-of-all-trades Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose poems she particularly likes.

said the designer to

, last October.

As for visual references, she cites Hayao Miyazaki 

, Francis Bacon, Peter Doig, Félix Vallotton for

, Paul Gauguin and

, David Lynch, Federico Fellini, Bertrand Mandico ...

From her period as a photographer, she kept a Picto Fashion Award in 2006 and a

that can be found in her series of artisan woolen masks and, of course, her first graphic novel.

The award will be presented to the author during the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

The ACBD Critics' Grand Prize (which brings together 96 specialized journalists, including comic book critics) aims to

.