By Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, Frédéric Lemercier
Read: October 2009
Rating: Wow
There’s no other word for it than, “Wow.” Every few pages, there it is again–Wow.
Didier Lefèvre was a photographer, who became involved with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). In 1986, he accepted an assignment to enter Afghanistan with an MSF mission, to document their journey and the conditions within the war-torn nation. The Photographer tells the story of that journey through Lefèvre’s photos, supplemented by the art of Emmanuel Guibert, a graphic novelist.
In 1986, Afghanistan is at war with the Soviets. The MSF crew must sneak across the border from Pakistan. They risk their lives with every stop, crossing desert and scrubland, climbing mountains, walking almost the entire way. They give their services to people along the way, and set up two hospital stations. Lefèvre then attempts the return journey alone.
If anyone you know still doesn’t believe that ‘comics’ can be a meaningful, effective means of storytelling, give them this book. It is hard to imagine this story without Guibert’s aid. The book melds imagery and words in a way one just doesn’t see very often. They’ve managed to tap into our brains, keep us somewhere between the visual and the text.
Lefèvre’s photographs are stunning. He’s why you turn the page and go, “Wow.” He documented everything–the people, the landscape, the silly, the devastating. He also kept a journal, and his notes are the basis for the text.
Guibert’s art tells the story that the photographs are unable to. He fills in the cracks, the empty spaces of time between shots. He illustrates the conversations, and the frightening times when it was too dark to shoot. Guibert illustrates the story. The art is very similar to Herge’s Tintin, with messier lines. There’s even a mention of Tintin–Lefèvre thinks of Tintin’s many journeys while they traverse the mountain passes of Afghanistan.
In the end, Lefèvre’s photos are allowed to speak for themselves.
Recent Comments