Kristian Consolacion

Anino

A graphic novel. Jay has a secret. A Filipino immigrant who was born with his ‘anino,’ his shadow as his friend. Displaced and disconnected from his homeland, Jay must choose between adapting to this new world or keeping his bond with his anino.Years pass and the death of a close relative will reluctantly bring Jay home.Does it take losing of one’s identity in order to survive?

“Anino: Part 1 is an autobiographic fictional graphic novel, part of a duology, about Diasporic experiences and the impact assimilation has on their cultural identity. The main themes I am exploring in my project are the effects of assimilation and its intermittent loss of cultural identity in order to survive the environment you are situated in. The title Anino translated from Tagalog means “shadow.” Which is used as a literal and visual metaphor for the main character’s connection to his cultural roots. Similarly, in reality, one’s shadow changes and adapts depending on its environment. The plot focuses on the main character Jay’s immigration story from a provincial town in the Northern Philippines to Toronto, Canada. Born with an autonomous shadow as his friend, he must choose between adapting to this new world or keeping his bond with his anino. The goal for this project is to create awareness in the Filipinx community to un-romanticize unrealistic fallacies to the immigration experience, whilst encouraging more Diasporic narratives that are lacking in mainstream storytelling. My inspiration for this project was my own Diasporic experiences as a first-generation immigrant. Growing up as an impressionable immigrant kid in the suburbs of Toronto was difficult. Through the process of adapting to the cultural shock of immigrating, I started to become apathetic towards my own culture. For example, I forgot how to speak my native dialects and stopped bringing traditional Filipino food to school. The research process I did for this project was excavating my past memories and experiences, including the ones I’ve repressed. It’s been 13 years since I have immigrated to Canada, and I found the process of excavating moments of reflection, which informed the writing process of the story. By creating a graphic novel, I hope that I can articulate a longer and interwoven narrative than I would through any other visual mediums. While utilizing the medium’s inherent ability to allow the reader to take in the story at their own pace. The aesthetic reference is a simple character design while using minimal contrasting solid colours. The choice of using the two contrasting colours is to indicate the two different environments the story takes place in Canada and the Philippines. The comic was illustrated and coloured in Clip Studio Paint and assembled in Adobe InDesign. The graphic novel will be presented in a printed perfect-bound book and eBook. The story has a serious tone and engages the audience socio-culturally by exploring the struggle and sacrifices one makes to start a new life abroad. The graphic novel inspired by the autographic works of Thi Bui, Lynda Barry and Tillie Walden who’s work uses personal narratives of their past to explore their overall identities. Anino: Part 1 combines my own excavated experiences and duo-chromatic colour design to explore the internalized struggles that many peoples of diaspora face. ”