Beschreibung
Life as a Balancing Act: In the unusual graphic novel Moise, My Friend, Florin Moise tells his deeply moving story. It covers his escape from one of Romania’s infamous children’s homes, his life as a street child in Bucharest, his search for his own family, his work in social projects initiated by Father Georg Sporschill, and his many setbacks and new beginnings. His journey leads him from a sheltered, orderly life back to the streets, to the train station, and to drugs. Moise, as he calls himself, resists being pinned down; he constantly evades fate and makes a game of it, always moving forward, even when the path leads into the abyss. Where others might give up, he simply keeps going.
In hundreds of colorful drawings, Moise has captured moments and memories he holds dear, with a strong sense for the humor or tragedy of a situation, intensifying scenes through images focused on the essentials. These drawings, with their disarming immediacy, rawness, and humor, prompt laughter, tears, and reflection. They portray brutal daily life as well as uplifting celebrations. There is cooking and eating, dancing and singing, and much laughter; children are born, people face grave danger, fall ill, and sometimes die violent deaths. One day, a stranger appears—a priest from Austria, who brings bread to the street children, like the ravens sent by God to the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. For over three decades, Moise's life has been intertwined with Father Sporschill's social projects, and his drawings also reflect the story of this remarkable commitment.
Ruth Zenkert, who has known Moise for over thirty years, and Nora Schoeller, have compiled his drawings into a book that sheds a unique light on a life that, for many, would be beyond imagination.
