PRHSTR

Whereas in most stories the central character is a carefully constructed individual, in the wordless ‘PRHSTR’ Sébastien Conard places a faceless group of people from prehistory at centre stage. This brave move creates a very different kind of reading experience, yet this is no detached narrative. Although people are not depicted as individuals, their emotions can be clearly felt: despair at the sudden loss of one of them, passion for hunting, enthusiasm in talking about the hunt in the evening, around the fire.

With aquarelle in earthy shades and pencil, the design vocabulary in ‘PRHSTR’ comes close to that of the prehistoric drawings found in caves – a form of art also depicted by Conard. He has his group of people experience the great changes of their time: meetings with other population groups introduce them to fishing and livestock farming but can also lead to violent conflict. This apparently abstract book is colourful, poetic and from time to time downright moving.