Helena Klakocar


Helena Klakočar is a Croatian artist alternative cartoonist known for her autobiographical, social, and political observations.
WWW helenaklakocar.com

Life and work

Helena Klakočar was born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, into an ethnic Croat family. When she was seven years old, her family moved to Maribor, Slovenia, where she attended primary and grammar school.
She studied graphic art at the Art Academy in Zagreb, Croatia and became successful as a comics author, designer of posters and animation films.
In summer 1991, she went on a sailing holiday with her husband and two-year-old daughter. Their return from Greece was prolonged because of the outbreak of the war in the Former Yugoslavia. On a small catamaran during the winter, she was capturing daily life and memories of her homeland in drawings and text, depicted in her award-winning graphic novel Restless Sea 1, which is translated into several languages.
She received a grant from Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, and later from Centre de la livre, Paris, to continue with this story.

Awards

  • 2019 - project resident at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
  • 2016 - project resident at RECOLLETS Paris, City of Paris and Institut Francais
  • 2000 - Prix Alph-Art du Meilleur Album Étranger for graphic novel Passage en douce, Festival d'Angoulême, France
  • 2000 - Prix du Radio Info, for Passage en douce, France
  • 2000 - "1st award for illustration", Stichting Tussen Hemel en Aarde, Netherlands
  • 2000 - Stipendium Centre de la Livre, Paris, France
  • 2001 - Work stipendium Fonds voor Kunst en Arhitektur, Amsterdam, Netherland
  • 2002 - "The picture which was never taken”, Helsinki, Finland, lecture on symposia about graphic novels.
  • 2003 - Guest artist Academia Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.

Works

Comics

  • 2020 book REVOLT published by Vedis, Zagreb
  • 2019: Publishing house VEDIS from Zagreb published her book WALL MEDITERRANEAN, graphic reportage based on the interviews with the crew of the Croatian search and rescuing boat BŠ-72 Andrija Mohorovičić, who was involved in the operation Triton
  • Graphic novel "Friesland, 2009, Fabrika knjiga, Belgrade, Serbia,
  • "Groote Reis", 2003, Aristej, Maribor, Slovenia
  • Graphic novel "Passage en Douce ", 1999, Freon, Bruxelles, Belgium

Films

  • "Dance, Monster, on my gentle melody” with group Zzot, Zagreb, 1985
  • "Tai Chi", Zagreb film studio, Zagreb, 1989
  • "What happened with my friends", animation part in the P.de Pierpont film, Bruxelles, Belgium.

Animated films

Interviews