Brazilian trans artivism, comics and communities, between digital and print: the cases of Pequenas felicidades trans and Transistorizada

Abstract

This article looks at the intersection of web-based comics and print graphic memoirs authored by transgender Brazilian comics artists. Brazilian comics have in recent years opened up to internet platforms, a change that has proved particularly fruitful for LGBTQ+ artists, traditionally marginalised by the Brazilian comics industry. The article examines two case studies – those of Luiza Lemos and Alice Pereira, both authors of comics originally posted on social media and later published in print. By means of a mixed methodology that brings together semi-structured interviews with the authors and close readings, this contribution investigates the dynamics regulating the creative and publishing processes of these works, as well as the relationship that they entertain with the practice of transsexual self-narration and self-portraiture.