Comics across the board
Berlin illustrator Paula Bulling made a name for herself with her drawings about asylum seekers in Germany. She still likes to create political works, most recently documenting the Occupy Wall Street movement.
In Occupy's footsteps
Paula Bulling made a name for herself with the comic book, "Im Land der Frühaufsteher" ("In the Country of Early Risers"), about asylum seekers in Germany. Her most recent watercolors show that she also likes it bright. Earlier this year, the illustrator went to New York for a project about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Zuccotti Park in the Financial District (pictured) was occupied in 2011.
Creative collaboration
Winter in Zuccotti Park is desolate, with neither demonstrators' tents nor leaves on the ground. The occupation of the public square accentuated its original name: Liberty Park. Bulling worked together on the Occupy project with Tashy Endres, one of the protestors.
Talking with, not about
Interviews with individuals who took part in New York's Occupy protests are at the heart of Bulling's illustration project. The idea behind it is to tell the story of the movement - which was first hyped, then hated - from the inside out. Bulling aimed to find out what kind of collective processes were really behind the movement, even though she doesn't agree with the protestors on every point.
The storyteller's challenge
Paula Bulling drew each one of her interview partners. She is currently sorting through the material together with Tashy Endres to decide what they can do with it. As an artist, she carefully considers form and format. "From which perspective do you speak from, why am I speaking, and how?" are some of the questions she poses.
Another square, different city
This comic set in Brussels is part of Bulling's recent album, "Bruss. Brussels in Shorts." Artists had the opportunity to tell stories about today's Brussels as part of a recent contest. Paula Bulling, together with Nigerian director Salissou Maman Oumarou, shows the contact between a Brussels resident and an African market.
Myriad tongues
A variety of languages can be found in the speech bubbles in Paula Bulling's Brussels project. Here at the market, people are speaking Hausa. Salissou Maman Oumarou, who came from Nigeria to Germany in 2001, taught Bulling a bit about the language. He also helped her with "Im Land der Frühaufsteher," since he had lived in a home for asylum seekers himself and speaks six languages.
The struggle for hope
The contrast couldn't be greater - from a bustling African market to a home for asylum seekers in Germany. Bulling took lots of photos in doing research for her book, "Im Land der Frühaufsteher," on which she later based her drawings.
Capturing the moment
Paula Bulling used photographs to help her remember buildings, but not people and situations. Instead, she sketched rough outlines during interviews - cameras would have jeopardized the trust she had with her subjects.