Reading through the “Coloured Canvas”: Unveiling Cultural Graphics in Indian Mythological Graphic Novels

Abstract

This study has one central objective, which is to examine the main problems of interpretation raised by Indian graphic novels that recount mythological stories. Through the work of selected authors with dissimilar styles of writing, this inquiry will focus on the many ways in which the genre engages with history, analysing the concept of nation they propose and its attendant cultural identity patterns. To reach a pertinent interpretation of these narratives’ mythological content requires the analytical tools of visual culture. With them, an explanation of how meaning and identity are understood and proposed by the authors will be feasible. This study, then, will aim to place these graphic novels within the social circumstances of their production, dissemination, and consumption, all the while using Pramod K Nayar’s book The Indian Graphic Novel: Nation, History and Critique as an essential resource. This work provides novel insights into the genre of graphic novels in India, especially in its chapter titled “Cultural Graphics.” Cultural graphics probe into the many ways visual elements and artistic innovations transmit features of a specific culture or cultural identity. In this light, this paper studies the selected narratives as examples of cultural graphics, analysing their iconography and symbols with special attention to their traditional art style and storytelling techniques. The paper will also identify Nayar’s core ideas of cultural instance, tableau vivant, and parergon as seen in the selected works.

Keywords

• graphic narratives
• cultural graphics
• tableau vivant
• parergon
• cultural instance