Life on planet Vegetalia seems like a perfect example of harmony between man and environment: a thick sentient jungle lives alongside a community of completely self-sufficient women, and the spawn of their relationship is a continuous stream of hybrid creatures, raised collectively and outside of any notion of identity or nuclear family. 

This is the start of Extra-Végétalia, by artist Gwénola Carrère, a tale in two parts whose original panels are displayed ad the SOF:ART gallery, as part of the thematic journey that encompasses the festival, focused on the relationship between body and landscape. 

Just like the planet depicted in the story, the book is a result of continuous hybridation. Carrère mixes comics and illustration, sci-fi and romance, irony and deep political reflection. She mends together ends that are only seemingly distant, skipping from studies on the intelligence of vegetal life forms to Monique Wittig’s books, from animation to contemporary art, and builds a solid narrative architecture that springs forth soft and sensual pictures, explosions of color, perpetually playing with visuals. 

The result is a work with an impressively powerful visual impact, that reveals at each reading a new layer of meaning and forces the reader to ask themselves uncomfortable questions: is it truly possible to imagine a balance between human and non-human? What place does individual desire hold in a more equal society?

The exhibit is an immersive experience in the world of Extra-Vègètalia, conceived as a dive into Gwénola Carrère’s books. Alongside the original panels of her first two volumes, presented for the first time in Italy, the exhibit also contains the illustrations and textile designs developed by the artist for the musical project Okraina Records.