Reservoir-residing Stella Glorie was devastated when she had to move north from Northcote as Melbourne rent prices rise relentlessly, and she wrote a short story about it. This story, In the Rezz, was then sent to aspiring graphic novelist Keith McDougall and – with the help of mentor Bernard Caleo – he developed a 34-panel comic inspired by Glorie’s words. McDougall’s gigantic comic board was then handed over to local songwriter Auður (mentored by Andrea Keller) who, based entirely on the content of the comic, wrote a song. Finally, Auður sent the song to emerging visual artist Laura Wood, who created a piece solely based on the song, with guidance from her mentor Belinda Suzette.
Illustrator Keith McDougall was sent the story in December, and found himself challenged by the lack of conversation it contained. “What I’d been given to work with was both challenging and inspiring because it contained very little dialogue,” he reflects. “It’s a mood piece that relies on imagery and the interior drama of one character. The comic I’ve created out of it is almost completely wordless because I was more interested in using images to capture the shifting mood of the story.”
The story is the narration of a woman who is forced further and further north by rising rent prices. “[She’s] recently moved into Reservoir, and used to live in Northcote, and to begin with, the narrator is quite depressed about Reservoir and wishes she was back in Northcote. At one point in her life she said that she’d never lived north of Separation Street, and then she said never north of Bell Street, and now she’s crept further and further north, which is a common thing for people in Melbourne,” McDougall adds. “I live in Coburg now, I used to live in Brunswick, so it was something I could relate to. By the end of the story though, she realises that, well… Reservoir isn’t such a bad place,” he laughs.
Not previously familiar with Reservoir, McDougall spent a lot of time in the area when planning his comic interpretation of the piece. “It’s a pretty interesting place, like it’s quite beautiful,” he says. “Some of it looks – if you walk around where the actual reservoir itself is – it’s actually kind of spooky, but in a really cool way. So I incorporated that sort of dark, spooky look into the comic, but then [as the story progresses,] some of the more bright and colourful things as well.”
Because the comic is to be displayed in Oggi’s shop window, the visual presentation of the comic was integral to the finished piece. “I did some brainstorming with my mentor Bernard Caleo, and we came up with this idea that I would create a giant newspaper page. Since the comic is going to be displayed in a window, it couldn’t be a book. It’s just one page, so I figured what would look really good would be a giant broadsheet newspaper page with a huge comic section. Decades and decades ago the newspapers were much larger and the comic sections were much bigger and more colourful, so I was inspired by that.”
Comedian Kate McLennan will be hosting Lost In Translation walking tours on Saturday and Sunday, which will take punters to each of the works in corresponding order, to see the process in its entirety. It’s a unique project that McDougall is excited to be a part of, and his guess is as good as yours when it comes to predicting what the end result will be. “It’ll be really interesting at the festival itself to meet the other artists and see the work, and see how this is all going to fit together. I’m wondering how the end product – the sculpture or painting – how different that will be from the original story.”
Melbourne’s comic scene is one that McDougall is particularly proud to be a part of. After completing his bachelor degree doing predominantly sound and music based papers, he returned to RMIT in 2010 because he “just suddenly really got into comics and decided I wanted to make a graphic novel.” McDougall quickly discovered the underground world of local comics and their artists. “There are just so many brilliant graphic novels being published, and there are a lot of really great local cartoonists in Melbourne – there are a lot of really talented people around.” Including McDougall himself, who has received a grant to do residencies in Berlin and New York, the next step on his mission to becoming a published graphic novelist. “I mean, I’ll see if I can make a career out of this, but I think I need a backup plan – like, I was thinking about studying to be a librarian or something.”
BY KATE MCCARTEN
