In volume 8Aya from YopugonMarguerite Abouet and Clément Aubréry continue to weave colorful characters with unparalleled dexterity, humor and a sense of tension between Paris and Abidjan.
In the 8th volume of the famous comic series Aya from Yopugon900,000 readers, screenwriter Marguerite Aboue has taken care to cleverly balance humor, angst and social issues, rightfully believing that we can talk about anything as long as we do it through fiction… So we find Aya freed from the prison where participation in the demonstration threw him to Bintu, the star of the TV series, who, with his strength and his confidence in himself and his body, manages to turn around a delicate situation: the troubles of Innocent in Paris. , who tries to make a fake marriage with his beloved Seb’s best friend in order to get papers. But also missing is Musa, who was literally reborn, and Cyprien, abandoned in the University Hospital of Tracheville… The talent of Marguerite Aboue and her partner, designer Clément Aubrier, shines like never before in this new volume, which ends on a thrilling note. cliffhanger. Meeting.
A very personal comic
Madame Figaro: What is your relationship with this new album?
Margarit Abuet: I put more of myself into this volume 8 which talks a lot about health. I have been going around hospitals for a year because I have a sick sister and a mother who is not in good shape. This is where the idea of talking about long-term health arose, which is causing more and more damage in our countries. When you don’t have money, you don’t take care of yourself, to put it bluntly. Appearance is very important. When you arrive at the hospital, the doctors look at whether you are well dressed or not, whether you will be able to earn money, and decide whether or not to treat you based on that. My sister was in denial about her cancer, I flew to Abidjan. The professor who was supposed to take care of him did not want to admit him, but the young doctor who was with him saw the bag.Aya” that I was wearing and he started quoting phrases from the albums. Then my cousin said that I am the screenwriter. He took care of my sister, and if she is alive today, it is thanks to him, to whom this volume 8 is dedicated.
Aya is achieving what she failed to achieve and on a personal level I will say that if I stayed in Africa I would want to be Aya.
Marguerite Abuet
between France and Africa
Was the verse inspired by someone close to you?
On my mother’s and aunt’s side, strong women who got married but knew how to stay independent and take control of their own destiny. My mother was very beautiful when she was young, and also very altruistic. There were always people in the house, he spent his time feeding the whole neighborhood. often I would take a plate before sheltering in my room so as not to drown in these people, and donating our clothes when others needed them. She also predicted which young ladies were pregnant months before they gave birth… And of course she was at work, going to work in bell bottoms before returning to our home to give advice and care to everyone. She continues to feed the whole neighborhood today, even though she is very tired, and when I mention to her that she can rest, she says that it is because she has done what she has done, that her children also had great matches. Aya follows her, but unlike my heroine, she hasn’t finished her studies… Aya realizes what she hasn’t been able to achieve, and on a personal level, I would say that if I stayed in Africa, I would want to be Aya.
I put more of myself into this 8th volume
Marguerite Abuet
Why did you choose Paris and Yopugon as settings?
Yopugon is the area of Abidjan I was torn from and I need to go back and spend time there, especially perhaps because today’s Yopugon has evolved so much that it no longer has much in common with what I knew. Paris and Yopugon make up my two countries, my two pillars, my two homes, as well as an absolutely incredible theater setting. I don’t see how I could tell stories that take place elsewhere, just as I don’t see how I could tell just a love story with two characters. I need some, like the TV series that fed me so much when I was young. It was really our window to the world, allowing us to see what was happening elsewhere. Aya, thus weaving and weaving several narrative threads. And so that the reader can find his way, with Clément Oubrerie we have adopted a certain division, at the end of each page we go to another character, and each of them corresponds to a certain color…
I like the idea of fiction, entertainment, changing the way of thinking, changing the way society looks, attacking prejudices
Marguerite Abuet
In your work, we sense a desire to address social issues such as undocumented immigrants, sexism, contraception, etc., and to break taboos such as homosexuality…
Indeed. I am not inventing anything, I am watching what is happening around me in Europe and Africa. I like the idea of fiction, entertainment, changing the way of thinking, changing the way society looks, attacking prejudices. The main thing is to do it without didacticism or heaviness, to remain funny, gentle, light. Whether in or out Aya or series That’s life – such as a wife and mother who is good in every way and who seems to lead a happy life, but who is actually a battered woman; the teacher The series, which is broadcast in forty countries, is funded by the UN and the WHO, which asks to convey certain messages, for example about contraception, and I have personally gone to villages where women who have not lived have never seen a gynecologist. . Thus, I have incorporated a number of social issues into my fiction and have relied heavily on the Sabido method, named after the fictional Mexican, which focuses on creating television programs that allow the audience to be entertained and educated at the same time. , to move rows and criteria…
Aya from Yopugon, by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, eds. Gallimard BD, 104 p., €18.
Source: Le Figaro
