Marta Chudolinska.

There is a unwritten rule about supporting your friends when it comes to their artistic endeavours... no matter how bad... but after seeing your friends band or gallery opening... you put on a smiling face and tell them how great they are for pursuing their dream... no matter what you might actually think... and I've done this more times than I can count... mostly at art shows while drinking wine that no doubt came from a box and secretly wishing I was somewhere else... but that all changed on Saturday afternoon... for the first time... someone I actually know made something worth while... I was attending the The Toronto Comic Arts Festival... mostly to buy a copy of Wilson... the new book by Daniel Clowes and to meet the man himself... but there was another surprise waiting for me... I walked through the front door to find a familiar face... Marta Chudolinska was selling her book Back + Forth with a little man holding a sign behind her announcing her nomination for a Doug Wright Award in the Best Book category... and I suppose Marta is far too modest for her own good... because this was the first time I heard of this... but if it was me and my name was mentioned alongside Seth and Marc Bell... everyone would have heard about it... whether they wanted to or not... and while waiting in what felt like a never ending line up for Daniel Clowes I read Back + Forth... a wordless graphic novel that is made up of 90 linocuts... a print making technique where images are carved into linoleum and pressed onto paper... in which Marta takes you down a recognizable road... a story that is familiar to so many of us... similar stories in my life that I've tried so hard to forget... yet Marta has courageously bounded them in a book for everyone to see... while going through the captivating images Marta pulls you into her life... so much so that you feel you're on an adventure with her while she's asleep and awake... locking horns with life and coming to terms with a failing relationship... a heart-wrenching and beautiful story by an amazing lady... a friend that is finally worth supporting.
Marta lives and works in Toronto... and you can buy a copy of her book here.