5 minute read
An Interview with Jesús Cossio
Jesús Cossio by Audra McNamee
Jesús Cossio
Jesús Cossio is a Peruvian illustrator, author, and editor of comic books and graphic novels. He has published numerous books and zines, including El cerdo volador, Pánico, Juventud moderna, and Ciudades convertidas en selvas with publishers in Peru and other South American countries. In 2003, Cossio was awarded a Rockfeller Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities along with two other authors (Luis Rossell and Alfredo Villar). Thanks in part to this grant, his group was able to produce the graphic novel Rupay—Historias gráficas sobre la violencia política 1980–1984. His most important work to date is Barbarie—Cómics sobre la violencia política 1985–1990, a collection of graphic stories that denounce the atrocities committed by the Peruvian armed forces and the Maoist group Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) during the years of internal conflict in this Andean nation (1980–2000). He has been an invited panelist at important Latin American comic book festivals including Viñetas con altura 2009 (Bolivia), Viñetas sueltas 2009 and 2010 (Argentina) and Entreviñetas 2012 (Colombia). He is considered by critics as one of the most influential authors of documentary and journalistic comic books in Latin America.
Interview with Jesús Cossio
Interview and translation by Yosa Vidal Collados
https://jsma.uoregon.edu/JesúsCossio
Yosa Vidal Collados: From the beginning of your work, from Cerdo Volador (“The Flying Pig”), and then Rupay, we see an interest in illustrating internal violence in Perú, with a focus on indigenous communities. How did you get started in illustrating these stories and doing what we now know as comic journalism? Jesús Cossio: “The Flying Pig” was a fanzine of very short comics, from one to two pages each, for a total of twelve to sixteen pages. I would make at most fifty copies. There were three issues between 2000 and 2005. It was a fanzine of a more personal style, with very subjective stories, and little narrative. Later, I produced two similar fanzines, “Cities Converted in Jungles” and “Other World,” with a similar profile. My interest in drawing stories of violence starts in 2006 when the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru (Informe CVR) is made public and is attacked by conservative and reactionary sectors of the press and society. Along with two friends, Luis Rossell (illustrator) and Alfredo Villar (author and artistic promoter), we thought about how we could fight back against the negationism and distortions that these sectors expressed daily. So, we started to plan a comic book, not as a version of the Informe CVR, but it did draw abundantly from its information, along with additions from newspapers and human rights investigations from the time.
YV: There have been almost 70,000 victims of the conflict in your country, and as you express and emphasize in Barbarie, terrorism came not only from armed groups but primarily from the State. Among all these stories of violence, how do you decide which story or stories to pursue? JC: In Rupay we decided to select ¨emblematic¨ cases of human rights violations in Perú, because they illustrate the cruelty, discrimination, and at times, the impunity of state officials (Armed Forces and police) or those of Shining Path. In Barbarie, however, I chose fewer cases, but with the criterion that they show concepts that have been negated or minimized by those that maintain that crimes committed by the military or the State were sporadic and exaggerated. YV: We can see that in your comics, graphically and textually, the perspective of the oppressed is central. What methods do you use in your reporting? Do you use photographs, interviews, archival research? What space do you leave to the imagination? JC: I prefer to call what I do “documentary comics” more than comics journalism, since, at least in Rupay and Barbarie, I (we) did not do any journalistic fieldwork, but looked for documentation of cases that had occurred 20 or 25 years previously. Once I had a list of cases, there were three basic sources for me in the work of documentation: the reports of the CVR and human rights organizations, newspapers and magazines of the era, and what one could find on the internet. The reports that came out of the CVR and human rights organizations are found on the CVR website as well as the LUM (Lugar de la Memoria). These reports can be viewed in the Information Center for Collective Memory and Human Rights, that preserves an archive of the CVR, composed of photographic, audiovisual, digital and printed material. I viewed newspapers and magazines in the National Newspaper Archive and I purchased materials in second-hand stores. And nowadays, one can find various materials on the internet that can be very useful. More than the imagination, I would say that there is space to fictionalize. That is to say, to recreate that which cannot be found in the documentation and testimonies (including photos) but that can be extrapolated or supposed based on primary sources. YV: Can you speak a little bit about the difficulties of working on documentary comics? Have you ever experienced danger in denouncing some person or event? JC: Although it is true that many years have passed since the publication of Barbarie, and I have had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork, interviews, and take notes in zones that were historically assailed by political violence, I still see my work more as a documentary project than a journalistic enterprise. Fortunately, I have not suffered any threats as a result of my work. Comics in general fly under the radar of those who react violently when faced with any discussion of their version of history. YV: Could you tell us a little bit about your style? What importance do you place on the art or stylistic choices? JC: The style of the illustration and narration through images are important to me as a creator of comics. It is fundamental, because telling a story in comics has a greater sense than simply putting drawings to a text, or texts to drawings. Besides, in the case of documentary comics one must keep in mind that the work involves representations of real events, and therefore, you have to strive for authenticity, realism, and truth.
YV: Finally, what is the most important story you have ever published? JC: I think that it is Barbarie, as it allowed me to come into contact with groups of individuals that studied memory and violence, with institutions that worked with those affected by the violence, and this enabled me to have a more direct approach to those experiences.
