Azuki Manga Series

Bazzell-Smith, Kofi

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114282 Copy

Description

Title

Azuki Manga Series

Author(s)

Bazzell-Smith, Kofi

Issue Date

2022

Keyword(s)

• New Media
• Studio Art

Abstract

I draw manga, which I have studied in Japan and produce in English and Japanese. I aim to increase Black representation in the form and teach workshops on manga and Japanese storytelling. Using the university as a platform, my events and classes are open to the community. I am designing a manga production course for UIUC which will be the first of its kind in the United-States. My current project is a bilingual manga that imagines Black potential in a world where race doesn’t exist. Azuki is about a little girl who is a Rock, Paper, Scissors champion. Pitted against a cast of tough, male opponents, Azuki only plays scissors, but always wins- speculating Black girl magic in a world without impediments as the universe bends toward her will. Azuki imagines a Black character at once in a conspicuously Japanese setting, and an ambiguous anational space- combining the cultural transnationalism of the Black manga movement with the concept of a borderless society and a world of humans unimpeded by the construct of race. The plot’s absurdity is a reminder that these ideals are still a fantasy and there is work to be done in establishing bridges and abolishing systems.

Type of Resource

• Text
• Image

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114282

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Kofi Bazzell-Smith

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