The graphic novel form can be a visual representation of how memory works, if we understand memory to be a composite of visual, semantic and emotional systems. The interplay between text and image – a non-linear, cumulative style of reading – creates a third narrative space that mimics the function of memory.
Visual storytelling has the potential to superimpose a system onto concepts and ideas which are difficult, fantastical or simply intangible, and, by creating an emotional response in the reader, become a platform to investigate forgotten and whitewashed histories, and to revisit historical and contemporary trauma in a medium that allows for an empathetic and human understanding of an event.
In times of political and social extremism, nostalgia and the rewriting of history into ideals creates a reality that lacks specificity. Memory becomes oversimplified, generalised and reduced. Visual storytelling can remind people of the specificity of reality and the importance of remembering, envisioning and articulating our lives and the lives of others. Through graphic novels Heart of Darkness, Scandorama and Terminal this paper will investigate nostalgia and false memory, revisit eugenic and colonial histories and explore the use of drawing to remember and memorialise contemporary victims of crimes.