Introduction
This queer comic conversation, a collaboration between Rae Lanzerotti and Illi Anna Heger, is about seeing and being seen in between abilities, genders, and spaces. This comic is accessible in different ways: play audio or read text transcripts, and view visual images or get descriptions. All audios are prefaced by text transcript. Keep on scrolling to click through the comic elements of audio and text as you go. All visuals are matched with embedded alt text. Or listen to the complete audio version and use the complete text version of the comic at the bottom of this page.
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we’re trying to tell a story about what’s important to us, what we want to understand and express about the experience of living in between in various ways
I think there’s a very precious energy in interacting artistically with another person but also communicating artistically to an audience, into the world
it can feel like it’s about finding space in the world or finding our way around the outer worlds and the places where outer space and inner space meet
yeah, i mean there’s the outer world but then what’s really important to me is also reflecting my inner space, like reflecting where i am with myself
the whole issue of depth perception, and being able to [Illi: oh my god] walk around, being able to feel confident walking and balancing, and you know, where am I in space? Where am I relative to other objects? So I think that’s partly why I related to this so much viscerally as well.. [Oh my God.] Yeah. [Oh my God, this. There’s also so much that I don’t know.] [Laughter] Yeah
and it’s about regaining balance, really, balance in your life. And it’s not bad, like being off-kilter, it’s it’s about. Yeah and this is for me also about how ability is on a spectrum, and how it depends on context. The more you grow into this new world, or this new understanding of yourself, the less… like it has less bad impact. You find out how to navigate that, and be yourself in that new environment. [Rae: Wow. Oh my god. Yeah… ability depends on context.]
the vantage point that we have that’s of nonbinary-ness, or queerness, where we’re sort of like just “outside” enough of… belonging, or just outside of the norm or the mainstream, or however we might want to describe that. Just outside of the binary enough, that there are possibilities for living and ways of seeing, right, that creates possibility or opens spaces that weren’t there before
but I, but I like space… I mean, I like space. [laughter] I like space because space means so much to me; and space in fact does mean where the planets live, and the black holes and the supernovas and all the… and Pluto who’s not a planet anymore [laughter] because Pluto transitioned [laughter] [Rae: oh yes, yeah we learned, when I was a kid we learned that Pluto was a planet so that was a big shock], yeah [space is so much we don’t know, mostly we don’t know, we know a little teeny tiny thing but]
sometimes it’s the obstacles that can actually, you know, open up a new channel; or, you know, bring in a new friendship
the parts where you breathe, where you discover something, where you immerse yourself into something fun
Visual art, texts and audio by Rae Lanzerotti and Illi A. Heger 2023
This comic conversation supported by the Accessible Comics Collective and funders of their 2022 competition.
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Complete Text Version
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The title at the top of the comic panel reads: Seeing InBetween. Two people are hovering over the arc of the blue earth, with Europe and the USA in focus. Their names and cities are written next to them. The comic has black line-art with pink, yellow and blue coloring and gray tones. On the left, Rae Lanzerotti, from San Francisco, wears an eyepatch, pink headphones, a white shirt, yellow pants and blue shoes. On the right, Illi A. Heger, from Munich, wears glasses, blue headphones, a yellow shirt, white skirt and pink boots and looks over at Rae.
Portrait of Rae with a black eyepatch, curly hair and pink headphones. Rae says: we’re trying to tell a story about what’s important to us, what we want to understand and express about the experience of living in between in various ways
Portrait of Illi with glasses, short hair and blue headphones. Illi says: I think there’s a very precious energy in interacting artistically with another person but also communicating artistically to an audience, into the world
Rae and Illi wave and smile as they approach each other in light gray space. They plant their feet like giants standing on earth.
Rae says: it can feel like it’s about finding space in the world or finding our way around the outer world and the places where outer space and inner space meet
Rae and Illi sit cross-legged above the earth, gesturing broadly as they speak. The darkening sky behind them fills with overlapping words. As the words fade into the background, they read: long-distance, she, refueled, up, hourglass, and other fragments. In between Illi and Rae, their conversation forms a swirling circle of blue, yellow and pink lines.
Illi says: yeah, i mean there’s the outer world but then what’s really important to me is also reflecting my inner space, like reflecting where i am with myself
Rae floats happily in dark space, their limbs outstretched. In the distance behind them, the swirling circle of colors has doubled like two petals or an awkward figure eight, enclosing stars.
Rae says: the whole issue of depth perception, and being able to [Illi: oh my god] walk around, being able to feel confident walking and balancing, and you know, where am I in space? Where am I relative to other objects? So I think that’s partly why I related to this so much viscerally as well.. [Oh my God.] Yeah. [Oh my God, this. There’s also so much that I don’t know.] [Laughter] Yeah
Illi stands calmly on a pink balance board. Illegible dictionary definitions in German are overlaid on their body. Behind them, the colors swirl within a now symmetrical infinity sign.
Illi says: and it’s about regaining balance, really, balance in your life. And it’s not bad, like being off-kilter, but it’s it’s about. Yeah and this is for me also about how ability is on a spectrum, and how it depends on context. The more you grow into this new world, or this new understanding of yourself, the less… like it has less bad impact. You find out how to navigate that, and be yourself in that new environment. [Rae: Wow. Oh my god. Yeah… ability depends on context.
A faded dictionary page behind one bright loop of the infinity sign contains this hand-written sentence: ability depends on context. Transparent pink, yellow and blue blend inside the loop making infinite rainbows.
Rae says: the vantage point that we have that’s of nonbinary-ness, or queerness, where we’re sort of like just “outside” enough of… belonging, or just outside of the norm or the mainstream, or however we might want to describe that. Just outside of the binary enough, that there are possibilities for living and ways of seeing, right, that creates possibility or opens spaces that weren’t there before
Lots of yellow, blue and pink overlapping splashes and black outlines create little figures and squiggly creatures: faces, birds, mushrooms, squirrels, hearts, flying fish, and tiny five-pointed stars.
Illi says: but I, but I like space… I mean, I like space. [laughter] I like space because space means so much to me; and space in fact does mean where the planets live, and the black holes and the supernovas and all the… and Pluto who’s not a planet anymore [laughter] because Pluto transitioned [laughter] [Rae: oh yes, yeah we learned, when I was a kid we learned that Pluto was a planet so that was a big shock], yeah [space is so much we don’t know, mostly we don’t know, we know a little teeny tiny thing but
A solar system bursts forward from infinity: a small, bright yellow sun in the middle, encircled by pink planetary shapes and blue lines indicating the revolutions of Earth and Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Rae says: sometimes it’s the obstacles that can actually, you know, open up a new channel; or, you know, bring in a new friendship
Rae and Illi jump, tumble, and play in space that’s becoming lighter. Rae dives into one loop of the infinity sign as Illi leaps from the other.
Illi says: the parts where you breathe, where you discover something, where you immerse yourself into something fun
Without background or panel borders, an empty and complete infinity sign floats.
Visual art, texts and audio by Rae Lanzerotti and Illi Anna Heger 2023
This comic conversation supported by the Accessible Comics Collective and funders of their 2022 competition.