The illustrator Bea Lema (La Coruña, 1985) received the award National Comic Strip Award 2024endowed with 30,000 euros for the works “The body of Christ” (Astiberri)in which he addresses the issue of mental health, the Ministry of Culture reported on Monday. The jury highlighted this work as “innovative, formally risky, with textures and compositions that transcend the most used techniques without renouncing humor and poetic gaze.”
This is not the first award that this work has won.that its author produced in 2022 during a graphic novel residency at the Maison des auteurs d’Angoulême (France). Entitled ‘Des maux à dire’, ‘Le Corps du Christ’ (Astiberri) received the Jury Prize at the 2023 Périgord Comics Festival, and the Audience Prize at the Angoulême Festival, the Bédélys Prize at the Montreal Comics Festival for the best foreign work and the Grand Prix Madame Figaro Héroïne in 2024.
The comic strip, currently being adapted into a short animated film, has, according to the jury, “great depth and sensitivity in the way it approaches a subject as complex as that of mental health from the author’s own experience, as well as the justification for the importance of care.”
Similarly, the jury indicated that “The body of Christ” is “a work of great visual beauty and deep emotion that offers a surprising look at the relationship between mother and daughter, being an authentic exploration of language that uses alternative aesthetic resources and shows a new way of weaving history claiming one’s own migrant memory.” In its latest edition, the award recognized Borja González, joining a long list of winners, including Diego Corbalán, Javier de Isusi, Ana Penyas, Rayco Pulido and Pablo Auladell, among others.
Béa Lema has directed illustrations for magazines, posters or children’s books. Her work, generally autobiographical, addresses themes such as madness, family relationships, religion, trauma and popular rituals. In 2017, she received the 12th Castelao Comics Award from the Provincial Council of La Coruña for “O Corpo de Cristo”, her first graphic novel, an autobiographical project that deals with mental illness from the perspective of a young girl.
He jury It was chaired by María José Gálvez Salvador, Director General of Books, Comics and Reading of the Ministry of Culture; and Jesús González, González, Deputy Director General of Promotion of Books, Reading and Spanish Literature, served as vice-president.
