Jewish Women’s Comics: Bodies and Bibles

Charlotte Salomon, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Sharon Rudahl, and Miriam Libicki, just some of the names of the maverick Jewish women who have transformed the world of autobiographical graphic narratives. They have challenged the traditional rubrics of comics making, and found authentic drawing styles and voices on their pages. In this talk I will introduce the artists and artworks that have inspired me as I produced The Book of Sarah, my autobiographical graphic novel distilled from thousands of diary drawings begun in my parents’ garden shed back in 1996. My book is structured like an alternative bible as I chart my movement away from the religious lifestyle I followed as a teenager and find a feminist Jewish identity. Tracing my experiences of family, motherhood and mental health, I also critique the patriarchal cannon of art history and bring forth the sidelined, silenced women of great master paintings. This talk contains adult material, and trigger topics including: miscarriages, mental health and maternity.

Sarah Lightman is an artist and writer and Faculty at The Royal Drawing School, London.  She attended the Slade School of Art for her BA and MFA, University of Glasgow for her PhD and was an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London (2018-2021). She edited the award-winning Graphic Details: Jewish Women’s Confessional Comics in Essays and Interviews (McFarland 2014), published The Book of Sarah (Myriad Editions and Penn State UP 2019) and co-edited Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders (Syracuse UP 2022).