“Performing the Forgotten Knowledge Through Digital Means” – Justina Jakubiec

The story of the riots that took place in Cardiff in 1919 leaves a lot to be desired. However cruel and prejudiced the affairs were, a recreation of the story turns out to be possible only on the basis of reports in local newspapers from that time. An aim to create a novel that would, as successfully as possible, bring the story to a broader audience is substantial and exceptional.

The story of Cardiff race riots has taken a form of a digital graphic novel, created by, amongst others, the artist Kyle Legall and Mike Pearson, responsible for the research. Right at the beginning, the creators state: “immerse yourself in the events of the time through spoken text and illustration which conjure up the atmosphere, people and places involved in a shocking moment of racial conflict and violence on the streets of Cardiff.” (Legall and Pearson 2020). It feels that this quote perfectly specifies the main purpose of the project: addressing the story that has not reached a broad audience. This act of bringing a forgotten story feels to fall under the notion of performativity with regard to knowledge. Following Isabelle Corbett-Etchevers and Eléonore Mounoud, performativity “can be defined as the act of bringing into being,” making something approachable and somehow graspable (Corbett-Etchevers and Mounoud 2012, 3). Adding to that, Mieke Bal characterizes performativity as “an aspect of a word that does what it says,” therefore stressing the importance of evoking certain activities (Bal 2002).

The digital graphic novel turns out to be filled with performative acts. A voice was given to people whose stories and experiences have been silenced and surrounded by prejudice. This voice takes various forms: recorded stories, written words, hand-drawn pictures, and videos. When following the written story provided by the novel, one can also refer to the downloadable map, which does not function as a distanced and unapproachable source. On the contrary, it turns into a platform thanks to which knowledge of the riots can be performed. A hand-drawn map covered with figures who look as if they were a real part of it, contributes to a more tactile experience. Locations visible on the map can be found with the help of Google Maps as well, which points to the extreme validity of the story, but also stresses how limited the access to the full story still is. All these sources of information interact with each other and bring the forgotten story into being, they perform it.

The digital graphic novel Cardiff 1919: Riots Redrawn, enables one’s imagination to reconstruct a story that cannot be otherwise represented. By connecting different ways of communicating knowledge, it extends the awareness of the story so valuable and important to be remembered. The digital source does, following Mieke Bal’s (2002) vocabulary, its aim: it adds an active dimension to the forgotten story and turns it into a performative work.

References

• Legall, Kyle, Pearson, Mike. 2020. “Cardiff 1919 Riots-Redrawn.” Cardiff 1919 . https://www.cardiff1919.wales/english
• Corbett-Etchevers, Isabelle and Eléonore Mounoud. 2012. “Performativity and counter-performativity of a knowledge strategy discourse.” HAL Archives ouvertes.fr  No. 19: 1-19.
• Bal, Mieke. 2002. “Performativity and Performance.” In Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide, edited by Sherry Marx-Macdonald, 174-212. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

*Image credits: StockSnap, Pixabay photograph, July 31, 2017. Downloaded on December 18, 2020, https://pixabay.com/photos/map-microscope-coffee-camera-pen-2562138/.