Strange Looks

Cynthia Häfliger
Strange Looks

Lars and Yael grow up in a carefree, sheltered family environment. When they enter their teens, they rebel and start to experiment. Much like any other childhood, you might think, but when Lars moves out, his life takes a turn for the worse. He frequently feels watched, hears voices and thinks someone’s following him. He disappears for weeks at a time and is cut off from everyone, even his sister Yael. He enters a parallel world no one else can enter. This is the start of a crisis that engulfs his whole family in a cycle of fear, despair, shame and helplessness.

How do we cope with suffering that defies our usual definitions? The illustrator Cynthia Häflinger’s graphic novel shows us what it might be like to suffer from psychosis. Her starkly evocative images draw us into a reality beyond words where the familiar contours of life become blurred.

• Winner of Serafina 2022

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