Liberamente

Kaz Rowe has woven together historical photos, direct quotes, and illustrations to tell the story and personality of a courageous queer icon with great effectiveness.

Surrealist artist Claude Cahun (1894-1954) was a courageous champion of freedom in many ways-from rejecting gender identity to seeking homosexual love to risking death for standing in the way of the Nazis. Born Lucy Schwob, in Nantes, France, she met and fell in love with Suzanne Malherbe. An artistic and romantic partnership was born between the two that would bind them for life: Lucy and Suzanne became the creative characters of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, respectively.

Together, the pair embark on a surrealist collaborative journey that will take them from conservative provincial France to the vibrancy of 1920s Paris. Having both moved to the German-occupied island of Jersey during World War II, they will use art to fight the Nazi regime with great courage. This intense and exciting graphic novel is especially recommended for young readers between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.

AUTHOR
Kaz Rowe – Is a Chicago-based cartoonist, youtuber and illustrator. She was an alumna of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work focuses on liminal identity and the use of fantasy as a vehicle to explore the intersections of collectivity and subjectivity. She also loves history, draws comic book stories dedicated to LGBT historical figures, and runs a YouTube channel with lecture-style historical topics.