On the occasion of the release of Rainbow, the latest comic by Maria Medem, we conducted an interview for her to share the behind-the-scenes of her book. Read the full interview!

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The rainbow, both a natural phenomenon and a universal symbol, carries a strong sense of inspiration. What does it represent to you?

My interest in rainbows started while working on my previous book - À cause d’une fleur. I like very much when this happens, when in the process of one book I find the seed of the next one, one idea that I want to explore more. And then I discovered that certain sounds - some of them linked to my childhood - evoke me the ethereal colors of the rainbow. Being something ethereal makes it difficult for me to constrain myself to a precise description, I think that’s why the book is wordless.

The book is structured in seven stories, each corresponding to one of the seven colors of the rainbow. Do you see them as independent stories, or as parts of a single narrative?

They are independent, in the sense that each of them represents a different story related to what’s the meaning of these colors to me, in a very intuitive way, but they are linked as all of them form the rainbow, because of that, there’s this in-between spread where the monkey is recollecting all the colors. There are elements that appear over and over as well. I see these books as a collection of short stories or short poems revolving around a topic, trying to find the most accurate way to define something.

As in Echos (Fidèle éditions, 2019), the book is silent yet full of narrative tension. Do you write a kind of script before drawing, or does the story take shape as you go? What’s your creative process like?

To me it’s very interesting to work without words, especially if I’ve worked previously in a book full of them. It makes the whole process very interesting, because without words you have to find solutions to explain things that with just a word would be very easy to solve. But trying to avoid the easiest or perhaps more accessible option and find another way to tell it is something that I always enjoy. My process depends a lot on how the comic is going to be. For example, for wordless and short comics, my process is totally different from long comics, but in this case I don’t write a script, but certain words that I want to keep in mind, and what I do is draw the scenes, kind of a storyboard, but very, very rough - which would be like a silent script - although this might and probably will change during the process, but it’s helpful for me to know what my intentions are when I start and where I want to go, even if I’m open to altering that.

The absence of human language and dialogue suggests a world where humanity isn’t the dominant presence. Your work could even be connected to an animist perspective — does that idea resonate with you?

Yes, totally. I find contemplation a very enriching activity, sometimes it is difficult to really contemplate without being distracted, but I think it helps to understand the relevance of non-human beings around us, and how we are just part of it, not above it.

Rainbow feels like a kind of visual poetry. Is poetry something that inspires you? What are your main artistic or literary references?

Yes! It’s difficult to summarize my references, they change depending on what I’m reading or watching or what my interests are at the moment. But I’m not sure if the books that I love have a lot to do with the work I do… I always want to have close the books of Sara Gallardo, an Argentinian writer that I’m not sure if it’s translated into French, but for example her book Los Galgos, los galgos has a poetry, a mystery and an evocative power that inspires me a lot. I like very much Pedro Lemebel as well, the books of Bergman, especially Les Meilleures Intentions, also I love Elfriede Jelinek’s work - especially The Pianist - and Claus and Lucas from Ágota Kristóf. I’m now reading some short stories by Dario Dzamonja that I find very powerful as well. In terms of movies… I like very, very much Yasujiro Ozu, also Abbas Kiarostami (Where’s My Friend’s House? I think it is one of my favorite movies), also Agnes Vardà has movies that really changed my perception of things when I first watched them. A more recent director I enjoy is Alice Rohrwacher, especially her last movie, La quimera. I don’t know, there are so many movies and books and artists in general… I’m now reading also the letters from Van Gogh to Theo and they’re very interesting as well, they make you rethink your art practice. I think it depends a lot on what I’m searching, my references might vary. Recently I’ve started to watch more horror films, which was something I wasn’t very interested in before, and I’ve found movies such as Possession that I found incredible. Anyway I’m always trying to watch something, or read something, or listen to something. In terms of music, flamenco inspires me a lot - especially the lyrics. Also, I was in Paris for the launching of Rainbow and I saw the exhibition of Philip Guston that’s at the Picasso Museum right now, Philip Guston is also a big reference for me.

Water plays an important role in Rainbow, as it did in Echos. What does it represent for you, narratively and symbolically?

It’s difficult for me to put it into words, I prefer the ambiguity and suggestion that images can evoke. But I can say that my fascination perhaps comes from realizing that water is something that can alter, destroy, change, nurture, clean, kill… it can do almost everything.

Narrative tension in your stories often seems to arise from encounters and interactions between living beings. Is that connection  - to others or to the environment - what drives your storytelling?

Yes, for me it’s very interesting to explore this connection, what can arise from that, what shows itself from each other and what we can find about ourselves after these. We believe we are of a certain way, but when we put ourselves in situations or we interact with others I think it’s when we find how we really are, and sometimes it’s different from what we thought we were. We’re social beings, I think these connections are necessary and something to look for but they sometimes bring tensions.

Color feels even more central in Rainbow. At what stage does color come into your process? Do you sometimes work in black and white?

Yes, I do work in black and white, but very rarely! In this case, color was central from the beginning, more than in other work, but as in this case stories were born from the feeling of a certain color I have to have it present all the time.

For the release of the book, you have been working on an exhibition at Librairie Sans Titre, where you show your original drawings. Could you tell us the process of that?

Yes, they are pencil drawings, which are the drawings that later I ink and color, and also watercolors that I made afterwards. I’ve been wanting for so long to do watercolors but I never found the time or the occasion and this was the perfect moment and also, being the color so important in this book, I didn’t want to have an exhibition with b&w drawings or with printed illustrations, but with real pigment. I really enjoyed the process of making them.

What are your plans for 2026?

I want to start another book as soon as January starts. I’m very much looking forward to it, as I have the idea and everything —I just need to start drawing, which is the part that I enjoy the most.