This comic is one of many visual journals Conrad has kept over the past decade while on visits back to the United States from the Czech Republic. On these trips the author often rides his bicycle to visit friends and family in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. In 2019, he was joined by his wife. This comic is his record of their experiences.
As he sees it, this work relates to the festival’s theme of “pair” because it is the story of two people on a journey. Additionally, because the visual narrative stands in contrast to the simple place names that are included, a tense dichotomy is created that somewhat echoes the forgotten history of so many places in so-called “New England”.
Conrad Eric Armstrong is an American educator and artist who has lived in the Czech Republic since 2004. His works are concerned with memory, storytelling, and association and are manifested in a variety of media, though most often painting and drawing. Conrad currently teaches art at the middle school and university levels and is a happily married father of one.