On the distinction between creative and non-creative labour and on making comics in Guy Delisle’s graphic memoirs. From “travelogues” to “laborlogs”

Abstract

ABSTRACT Guy Delisle’s comics have often been categorised among the subgenres of graphic journalism, travelogues, or travel autobiographies. Nonetheless, apart from the obvious detailed depictions of his travel impressions – an amply elaborated topic– there are some important, yet overlooked, recurring themes such as the aporia of creative labour, and the consequences of the changing nature and organisation of work from the beginning of the 1980s to the late 2010s on cultural industries and comics profession. Delisle’s memoirs delineate different types of organisational structures, interpersonal relations, and working conditions from the time he was employed as a salaried labourer and animator, along with the setting in which he had to perform his job as a self-employed, freelance artist. His visual narrations constitute a canvas of anecdotes and events, revolving around his working environment and professional context, not only during his sojourn in various countries but also in his hometown, Quebec, Canada. The present article suggests that Delisle’s ‘travelogues’ can be better understood as ‘laborlogs’. That is a term coined here from the synthesis of the word labour, toil, and log, a record book, a list, employed in order to lay emphasis on the importance of work and labour in the artist’s illustrations.