Titi FAUSTIN (Ivory Coast)
Titi Faustin was born in 1971 in Ivory Coast. He studied painting at the Abengourou Art Centre (Ivory Coast). He worked for the Communication Agency Nelson McCann and for Ivory Coast magazines and reviews such as: Liberté, Ter, Ivoire-Pied, Kabako and La Gazette. Furthermore he created advertising and educational comic strips for Ivory Coast enterprises.
He won the Calao Prize in 1990, in the 1999 Festival Cocobulles (which was organized in Ivory Coast) he won the prize for best comic strip, with his " Gris-gris d’amour ", on Christophe N’galle Edimo scenario.
In Europe, he took part in the Festival d'Angoulême 2000 and gained the Jury Mention at the Africa e Mediterraneo Award, in 2002.
One year later, his story Le flic de Gnasville (scenario by Eyoum) won the 1st prize at the same Pan-African competition, in the “Human Rights” section.
His comic strip : The reserve
Yasmina lives in the City, a chaotic universe where different communities live separated by hatred and misunderstanding. The Council of the Wise lives in the colonised green Moon and holds the spiritual power. Yasmina meets Christophe in the shopping mall, which is the only gathering place of the City. The antagonism between their two communities is immediately clear. At night, Yasmina's quarter is attacked by the army of an antagonist community. The desire for revenge arises. Yet, similar attacks are carried out also in the antagonist community. As Christophe and Yasmina get involved with a non-violent collective that opposes religious deviation, they realize that the massacres were orchestrated by a political and financial movement that took advantage and benefited from their religious tensions.
They understand that they need to negotiate with those who control the spiritual realm in order to obtain justice and peace. Accordingly, they plan an action based on non-violence, faith and solidarity. Once the Council of the Wise witnessed the success of the action, they accept to listen to the Earth people, and after the scandal became public, sanctions are stipulated and reforms initiated. Furthermore, Yasmina and Christophe decide to move in together.
This story was taken from the original novel La réserve written by Thomas Gunzig and adapted to the comic format by Christophe N'galle Edimo. Interestingly, it seems a metaphor of today's world. Indeed, we can draw a parallel between the Moon and North of the world given their similar welfare and successful inter-religious coexistence. Similarly, the Earth can be compared to the South of the world where poverty and hatred among different religious communities seem to be widespread. This story shows how not all inhabitants of the South are resigned and complaining as Yasmina is at the beginning of the story. Similarly, not all the dwellers of the North take advantage of inter-religious hatred present in the South to accomplish their own interests. If the people in the South, who wish to take their destiny in their own hands start to collaborate peacefully with those in the North who believe in democracy, new reforms can originate.
Faustin Titi's drawings with their strong curves and details represent very well the seductive character of the industrialized world. In the same way, the chromatic tones chosen for the Earth (i.e. green and blue) effectively convey the leaden atmosphere of the resigned and poor Earth people.
Technical information
Work features: fantasy
Pages: 28
Colour