Malta’s history is undeniably rich, yet most people never go beyond what is absorbed during history lessons as schoolchildren. With this in mind, one Maltese artist is using his skills to create a graphic novel, entitled Konvoj, detailing the Santa Marija Convoy’s dramatic and traumatic six day journey to reach our shores in an attempt to “reteach Maltese history to Maltese people.”
Artist Raymond Domnic Agius has spent a total of three years working on this project. “Admittedly, I already had a lot of research done due to an earlier exhibition I had put up on the subject,” he confesses. Following this exhibition, he had published his findings but despite the amount of material he had accumulated, it was not enough to cover all the details relating to the convoy that had saved Malta from the grips of famine during WWII.
Raymond justifies his meticulous approach: “people who are interested in this topic are generally people who are familiar with all the fine details of these events, so it is imperative that I get all the facts right,” he explains. Asked about his artistic process, his smile can be heard through the phone: “it certainly takes more time researching than it does to draw out a page of the comic.”
Currently editing his first draft of the article, Raymond explains that it takes him one day to draw out one page of his upcoming graphic novel, Konvoj. Having amassed 108 separate pages of art and 25 pages of text, he hopes to select the best examples and reduce the page count by a third. Raymond explains his plans for the final presentation of the novel: “one page of historical information, followed by a page of pencil drawings and another two to three pages of watercolour paintings.”
This is not the first time he is applying this multi-media approach to his paintings. The artist reveals he is currently working on another graphic novel in collaboration with the University of Malta about the stigma of mental health.
“Teenagers don’t know where to look for help,” he says, adding that “no one bothers reading when there are too many words on a page.” His hopes for the project are heartfelt and pure: “maybe through an amalgamation of text and image, it’ll help them understand and preserve their sanity.”
Raymond plans to release Konvoj ahead of the commemorative celebrations on 15th August 2020.
Who else can’t wait to get their hands on this?