Inauguración de ‘Viñetas&Fronteras’ por el Presidente de Canarias – Portal de Noticias del Gobierno

· The President of the Canary Islands inaugurates ‘Viñetas&Fronteras’, an exhibition that focuses on the representation and treatment of this phenomenon in the world of comics
· The exhibition at the former Convent of Santo Domingo in La Laguna also showcases the work of Padylla and Morgan published in newspapers in the archipelago

The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, praised on Monday the commitment of artists to shed light on the migration crisis and bring it closer to citizens with a human and supportive vision. During the inauguration of the ‘Viñetas&Fronteras’ exhibition, Clavijo considered the work carried out by comic artists and creators to be essential in addressing this structural phenomenon from their particular critical perspective.

In his view, the work of comic artists is also crucial in humanizing migration, especially in the face of xenophobic and far-right messages. The head of the Canary Islands Government emphasized that Canarias has always been a land of welcome, an example of reaching out to migrants, which is also reflected in the work of the artists included in the exhibition inaugurated on Comic Day.

Fernando Clavijo has ensured the commitment of the regional government to continue disseminating through all channels the reality of the migration crisis that the Canary Islands face on the front line as the southern border of the EU. In this regard, he recalled the opening last Friday of the exhibition ‘The Canarian Route: 30 years of migration and death’ at the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA) in Tenerife. This exhibition, which has already visited Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, brings together the work of 12 photojournalists documenting three decades of migration in the archipelago through 80 photographs.

The exhibition opened this Monday at the former Convent of Santo Domingo in La Laguna reflects on the representation of the migration phenomenon in comics with two distinct perspectives. In a first room, the exhibition promoted by the Cine+Comics Foundation and the Moebius Cultural Chair of the University of La Laguna contains a group of works composed of reproductions of comic book pages from across Europe. The migration phenomenon is observed from the perspective of authors such as Sarah Glidden, Marjane Satrapi, or Kim, among many others.

In a second room, under the title ‘Uncertain Destiny’, the exhibition brings together fifty cartoons by Padylla published in the newspapers El Día and La Provincia, and another fifty by J. Morgan that have been published in the newspaper Canarias7. These cartoons have been published from the year 2020 to 2024, allowing us to see how this crisis has been addressed over time in the archipelago.

The inauguration of this exhibition by the President of the Canary Islands also included the participation of the Mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, the Vice-Rector of the University of La Laguna, Isabel León, and the exhibition’s curator, Francisco Pomares. The cartoonists Padylla and J. Morgan were also present.

The purpose of this exhibition is for visitors to reflect on migration, considering stories that address it from a universal and local perspective. It can be visited for free until March 28 during the opening hours of the exhibition hall, which are from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.