COMICS
Dr Sarah McNicol of ESRI, Manchester Metropolitan University was a Co-Investigator across the three projects. She introduced the use of comics as one of the tools for the Ghost Lab inquiry.
“Comics were identified as appropriate medium to explore notions of social haunting because, as Danziger-Russell (2012) argues, they “create the perfect space for the expression of voices that have been previously marginalized” (92). Through combining text and visual methods of communication, comics offer a means for the expression of interior, or silent, voices, especially of those who cannot speak for themselves, or are usually ignored. Furthermore, as Gerde and Foster (2007) argue, comics provide “alternative universes in which alternative consequences can be explored” (254), thus allowing for the exploration of counter-narratives and alternatives to conventional interpretations.
Many of the ideas underpinning the concept of social haunting bear remarkable similarity to discussions to be found in comics studies literature. Discussing women’s comics, for instance, Ulanowicz describes how these texts, “make visible fragments of traumatic experience that formerly have been neglected, repressed, or censored” (2011, 8). A critical concept in comics studies is the co-presence of visual and textual codes. As Chute argues through a dual coding system, “comics accommodates the interaction between the seeable and the sayable” (2010, 217), but might they also allow for interaction between the empirical and what can be sensed in other ways? Another significant aspect of comics is the notion of ‘gaps’ between the frames which the reader must complete in order to make sense of the narrative fragments in much the same way that becoming aware of normally invisible social ghosts can help us to make sense of the more visible, but fragmented, present. The way in which comics deal with time is also an important consideration. While they may lack the rigid dimension of time in their reading in comparison to a medium such as film, comics have their own, arguably more complex, methods to deal with the representation of past, present and future and the passing of time. In all of these key features of comics, it is the role of the reader that is critical. Understanding the story of a comic requires the active participation of the reader just as social haunting requires the active participation of those living in the present if it is to be understood.”
You can read more of Sarah’s academic writing below and here
Ghost Lab with Unite Community South Yorkshire branch participants,
NUM headquarters, Barnsley 2015 credit: Jim Medway
Jim Medway is a comic artist commissioned in all three projects. His work ranged from sketches of meetings and discussions, to depicting poetic moments in Ghost Labs, to designing the ‘Community Tarot’ cards which were used extensively in developing our ‘Song Lines’.
“The Social Haunting project has been extremely fascinating and worthwhile for me as a comic artist. Firstly, working with a variety of groups to tease out their stories, ideas and concerns using drawing and text in sequence has been a new way of working for me (usually I'm helping participants construct narratives in a much more formal way). I've found that simple combinations of words and images can have a clarity of communication for narratives that maybe aren't so straightforward.
Secondly, helping create the Tarot pack and seeing it in action has been a revelation. The potency of the individual cards, the ritual, the genuine magic of the tangible truths they seem able to reveal to people when seen in sequence are all astonishing to me. Lastly, I've enjoyed documenting parts of the project in comic form, helping record, articulate and disseminate a little something of these strange goings-on”
You can find more of Jim’s work here
Ghost Lab Tarot Session with Voice of Youth participants,
Somerset House, London 2016 credit: Jim Medway
Community Tarot cards at Somerset House Ghost Lab (Image Credit Max Munday)
VISIBLE FRAGMENTS: INSTANCES OF SOCIAL HAUNTING IN GRAPHIC NOVELS
Dr Sarah McNicol (2016)
Abstract: This paper draws on Avery’s Gordon’s use of the term “social haunting” to describe the sense that all is not as it seems and something is happening which cannot be detected by our empirical senses. It explores how features of comics such as the interaction between image and text; the notion of ‘gaps’ between the frames; and methods of representing time can help us to better understand the phenomenon of social haunting. It does this through the analysis of a number of comics that can be said to reflect, in various ways, "the harm inflicted or the loss sustained by a social violence done in the past or in the present” (Gordon, 1997, xvi).
Many of the ideas underpinning the concept of social haunting bear remarkable similarity to discussions to be found in comics studies literature. For example, just as Chute argues that through a dual coding system, “comics accommodates the interaction between the seeable and the sayable” (2010, 217), might they also allow for interaction between the empirical and what can be sensed in other ways? Another significant aspect of comics is the notion of ‘gaps’ between the frames which the reader must complete in order to make sense of the narrative fragments in much the same way that becoming aware of normally invisible social ghosts can help us to make sense of the more visible, but fragmented, present. The way in which comics deal with time is also an important consideration in understanding social haunting. Lacking the rigid dimension of time in their reading in comparison to a medium such as film, comics have their own, arguably more complex, methods to deal with the representation of past, present and future and the passing of time.
Read the full article here