Avial is my MDes thesis project from the Glasgow School of Art.
Avial is a 28-page dialogue-less comic that weaves in and out of the lives of a few people living in a building complex in India, while another character makes the dish Avial*. Punctuated only by diegetic sounds, it is an exploration of connection, loss, and societal pressure in a South Asian context and how to find universality in the specific. It is also supplemented by an audio file that gives you a soundscape while reading the book. It debuted at the Thoughtbubble comic convention in 2024 and was featured in a review in Broken Frontier.
*Avial (n) – A South Indian thick stew of different vegetables commonly found in the Western Ghats, seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. See the GSA Showcase here. Read the full comic here.
