The Fountain Bookshop in Manhattan hosts writer Paula Sevenbergen this Friday, who will present her horror graphic novel Flow, co-created with Claudia Balboni. The work explores the debate on recognizing menstruation in girls, addressing guilt, shame, and bullying, but also the wonder of the human body. A perspective that blends fear with the visceral.
Graphic narrative as a driver of social change 🎨
Sevenbergen employs a dense visual style and ink contrasts to represent the menstrual cycle as a biological and emotional process. Balboni's technique combines fragmented panels and close-ups that evoke claustrophobia, reflecting the social pressure girls face. The use of shadows and organic textures seeks to demystify a taboo, while the sequential narrative allows showing the body's evolution without resorting to sugar-coated metaphors. The work is an exercise in dirty realism.
When body horror surpasses the horror script 😱
Because, let's be honest, sometimes the real terror doesn't come from a monster, but from having to explain at dinner that you bought sanitary pads. Flow leverages that everyday panic to build an atmosphere of constant tension. And if in the end you feel relieved that it's just a comic, remember that out there there are still people who are more scandalized by a bloodstain than by a serial killer.