Interview by Etxahun Gonzalez for ORTZADAR newspaper supplement that is published on saturdays in various basque newspapers of Grupo Noticias.
Publisher: Editorial Iparraguirre S.A.Release date: 2017-VII-14
Language: Basque
Number of pages: 8
Size: 28.4 x 37 cm
Retail price: 1.4€
AVAILABILITY
Free Digital edition: https://goo.gl/nRzqUk
INTERVIEW by Etxahun Gonzalez
“With respect to comics,
everything is yet to be done in the Basque Country.”
Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race comic by the Oñati cartoonist Ian Nose is being exhibited in the Biennale of Venice until November 25.
Behind the pen-name Ian Nose stands Ioannes Busca born in Oñati in 1984. He studied Architecture in Madrid and today he is a cartoonist and designer. He first moved from Madrid to Puerto Rico and he's currently living in Philadelphia where he works as freelance. One of his comics, Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race is being exhibited in the Venice Biennale. It's a collection of cartoons about the Spanish general elections in witch the protagonist are Rajoy, Sanchez, Iglesias and Rivera.
Your work Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race is being exhibited in the Spanish Pavilion of the Architecture Biennale of Venice until November 25, how come?
Before the opening, I was in Venice for a week because aside from the comic works, I also work as a video editor and I was in charge of the auidovisual of the Pavilion. I usually write the comics first in Basque and then translate them to Spanish and English, but this years curator, Atxu Amann thought it was a good idea to show the original Basque version and that is how it's displayed. This year's curators have done a great work, there are around 120 projects exhibited and my comic looks great on the space dedicated to the narrative. I was very glad to be able to show the comic in Basque.
Did you receive any feedback from the readers?
Apart from being in Basque, my comics laugh at the Spanish politicians. One day, a Venezuelan higher up that was visiting the pavilion asked: "How did you manage to make such a pavilion with the fascist government you have?" I think that is the best feedback we've had.
It's the first time that a Basque written comic is exhibited in the Spanish pavilion, so you're a pioneer...
The merit is for the curators, you have to be brave to do that nowadays. I don't know if it will happen again. Having a comic in an archiecture biennial is not easy, and even less in Basque. But I hope it happens more often from now on. Honestly very little comics are being published in Basque, and it's so sad. The website Komikipedia.eus says last year only 29 comics were published in Basque. Now that we've started to publish my comics under the name Ahabi Comics, we're looking for ways to get the rights of the comics we liked so much when we were kids and see if we can publish them in Basque. With respect to comics, everything is yet to be done in the Basque Country.
Is this why you started LainoMehe with your brother?
We started that site, if not to fight back the scarcity of comics in the Basque publishing scene, then to translate some chapters of our favorite authors and share them with Basque readers. We took the first steps in March 2011, adapting the basque version of Dragon Ball animation series that was broadcasted in the Basque TV to the original manga work. When we saw that they fit, we transcribed the first five chapters and posted them on a web we called: laino.me Although they were very successful in our circle of friends, it didn't seem good to us to keep on translating copyrighted content and even though we tried different ways for doing it correctly, we haven't found away to do it properly yet. It's an ongoing project.
You wrote 'It Also Rains in Puerto Rico'. This country where you were living was hit by Hurricane Maria...
I lived there for five years and I stayed there for two months after the hurricane. Then we moved to Philadelphia, the three of us: my wife, my cat and myself. On Christmas time a friend came to visit us and she was organizing an exhibition about skate called FASST! and invited me to participate. I wanted to write something about the experiences lived in the island so I got involved. I haven't used reference photographs while drawing, I tried to put the images that stuck to my mind in the comic, that's why they're not too realistic. I still have a lot to improve too.
You now live in Philadelphia.
Yes, I work as a Freelancer there on my own. After the biennial I have taken time for my own projects. I've updated my website, I continue drawing comics and thinking of how to bring up new projects to life. We're really happy in Philadelphia, we can walk around everywhere, something that's not easy in America. In Puerto Rico we needed a car for everything, we didn't even bother to bring it here. We move everywhere walking and by bike.
