Lin Lucas

About the Process

As a comics creator, I generally write and draw my own stories. My stories reflect a preoccupation with reclaiming the past—with trying to affirm my place in a history that has erased the path connecting me to African ancestors. I create in a variety of forms: short stories, screenplays, poetry, comics, and dance. Whatever the medium, my work reflects an effort to fulfill a longing for repair. Through stories, I trace a path home. My workspace is open, warm with natural light; the walls are filled with framed original pages by cartoonists who have inspired my love and approach to visual storytelling—artist like Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Jim Holdaway, Guy Davis, and Gilbert Hernandez. My recently completed 2nd graphic novel, The Black Flame Society, is set in an alternate historical setting between the end of World War I and the eve of the Great Depression. The Black Flame Society is an affirmative reimagining of the popular fiction from the golden age and depicts African Americans and other marginalized groups as empowered citizens on a global stage, capable of actively challenging the oppressive systems that seek to inhibit their potential. My collages are an extension of my interest in ritual practices and arises from a desire for connection with the unseen; it is a process guided by whispers from the edges of consciousness. The finished pieces feel like offerings to and messages from my people; offerings constructed with the support of those whose memories, hopes, and dreams are still vibrantly encoded within me, speaking in voices that require me to shift frequencies, to stop, sway, and pray; to look at the world through the backs of my eyes; to commune with my hands in the dirt, to hear leafsongs, and groove to the rapture of cicadas.