Finland: Collection of comics by the Open Minds -group

"This is our home" - "It is a boy".  Detail from a comic made by Anna S.

Västra Nylands Folkhögskola is a Swedish-language Open College in the western part of Finland.  Together with Kårkulla, a resource center for mentally handicapped, they run a program called Open Minds. As part of the program, World Comics Finland was invited to arrange a two-day workshop for a group of mentally handicapped women.

The workshop took place in Karis in October 23-24, 2012 with 12 participants. They were enthusiastic about the possibility to express their views and tell their stories in grassrooots comics, and they grasped the idea of the medium quickly.

Leif Packalen ran the workshop together with coordinator Kia Orama. In addition, the participants had personal assistants who helped them with things like spelling. But they did not need any help with their stories which were based on true and moving experiences, and hopes for the future.

Grassroots comics can be used in a number of ways. This was a very promising opening.

Have a look at the collection: download the pdf-file (2,8 MB)