Between Home and Nowhere

Between Home and Nowhere is a powerful new addition to the AUB Press’s Comics and Graphic Narratives from the Arab World series, created by Aya Boukhari as her final year project at AUB’s Graphic Design program under the supervision of Dr. Lina Ghaibeh. Through both writing and illustration, Aya intimately recounts her experience of leaving Lebanon for the UAE amid the 2024 war in Lebanon. The narrative explores themes of anxiety, uncertainty, adapting to new environments, academic struggles, and the deep emotional pain of displacement. This heartfelt graphic memoir offers a compelling, personal perspective on the challenges faced by many in the region today. For Aya, the book was not only a final project, but also a deeply personal way of processing crisis. Influenced by Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, she turned to visual storytelling as a more direct and emotionally resonant way of communicating her experience. “Illustrations,” she says, “have a faster and more direct way of reaching an audience than words… the intensity of emotions is more expressive due to illustrations.” Over the course of four months, Aya experimented with various techniques including ink, watercolor, charcoal to find the visual language that best reflected her inner state. The final 61-page work unfolds like a visual diary, its lines and facial expressions capturing the emotional intensity of the moment. “As I went through the pages during different time stamps,” she explains, “the illustrations, especially the intensity of lines and facial expressions, would always trigger the same emotions I felt during the war.” By turning inward and illustrating her own journey, Aya not only sought to understand her own emotions but also to raise awareness about the psychological impact of conflict. Between Home and Nowhere stands as a moving testament to the power of graphic narratives to tell deeply human stories in times of crisis.