Platforma BD: International Cluj Comics, Illustration and Animation Festival

Written By Joanna Bucur
Three illustrations of women across time, starting with Roman London, moving to Saxon London and finishing with Late Medieval London. The images show the women walking in a pair, with the fashion according to each historical time. Drawn by hand.
Three illustrations of women across time, continuing with Tudor London, Georgian London and Victorian London. The images show the women walking in a pair, with the fashion according to each historical time. Drawn by hand.
Three illustrations of women across time, continuing with Early and Late 20th Century London and Contemporary London The images show the women walking in a pair, with the fashion according to each historical time. Drawn by hand.

These are my entries for the Platforma BD: International Cluj Comics, Illustration and Animation Festival. A friend sent me the open call and since I already had the work that fit in with the theme, I said, why not. I was very happy to find this festival and space that celebrates comics creativity in Romania, and one in the city of my birth (!) The festival is in its second edition and I hope there will be more to come.

The works reflect on the transition of women across time, from being considered inferior to their male counterparts until self-possession. The illustrations trace the lives of women in London, starting from Roman Britain to the present (just like my Woman in Time comic), through a continuous visual and emotional thread, positioning progress not as a singular moment but as a collective journey.

Structured as three composite images, each scene centers on pairs of women moving through the streets of their respective eras, emphasising companionship, continuity and shared experiences. The repeated act of walking becomes both a narrative device and a metaphor. Initially marked by fear and restriction, it gradually transitions to deliberate unified movement forward towards collective resistance and individual self-determination.

Joanna Bucur
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Woman in Time: Visual Explorations of Women’s History