Graphic Ghosts: Reimagining Urban Violence in Augusto Mora’s Los fantasmas de mi ciudad
With the rise in narco activity, feminicidios, armed robberies, the disappearing of people, and State violence as daily occurrences, how can we begin to make sense of such an overwhelming amount of loss? Utilizing the graphic novel to its fullest extent, Augusto Mora’s Los fantasmas de mi ciudad (The Ghosts of My City) is a visually stunning (re)interpretation of the violence that plagues the urban cityscapes of contemporary Mexico. Forming part of a long literary tradition of fantastic stories based in Mexico’s most populated areas, Mora’s graphic novel follows the story of a teenage medium, Viridiana San Juan, and her friends as they attempt to record video evidence of the tormented souls that haunt their city, all the while navigating the violent reality that surrounds them daily. Through her desire to tell the stories of the souls that haunt her visions, Mora constructs a simultaneous and compelling critique of the historical, social, and political practice that has filled Mexico’s urban areas with ghosts and the nonchalant attitude that has made violence a normal part of everyday life. By making the unseen victims of violence become visible, the subjectivities of the city’s millions and millions of ghosts can be recognized and their narratives reclaimed.
Read Graphic Ghosts: Reimagining Urban Violence in Augusto Mora’s Los fantasmas de mi ciudad