Giacomo Lichtner
Local
Giacomo Lichtner is Professor of History at Victoria University of Wellington and the Deputy Chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. He specialises in the history, memory and representation of the Holocaust, Fascism and World War Two. He has published widely on these topics, including Film and the Shoah in France and Italy (2008) and Fascism in Italian Cinema since 1945 (2013). His latest project - co-led with Prof. Sally Hill - explores what to do with fascist monuments and other difficult memories.
Session 1
The Rhythm of Drawing: Processing Violent History Through Graphic Novels
Can comics address—or even work through—traumatic histories? Approaching comic book structure as a “conversation” with the reader, we will discuss how contemporary artists use the medium to process disastrous events. First, we will look at third-generation Holocaust narratives as a study in memory. Then, we will explore recent works from Israel post-October 7th as a study in real-time crisis. How does the comics medium shift from a tool of secondary witnessing to a mode of documenting direct encounters with atrocity?