An Interview with Kat Mooradian
Ever wonder what is going through an artists’ mind when they are creating a piece? Well, we just started asking accepted submitters to see if they would like to share a little bit about themselves and the piece that they had submitted! In this little interview, we will explore what Kat Mooradian has to say about her piece “The Transposition of Will.”
About you:
What was your inspiration for “The Transposition of Will?” “Will” is one of my closest friends (and my longest friendship—I met him when we were both 14 years old). Will moved across the country after we graduated high school together, and we had one last camping trip before he left. “The Transposition of Will” is a commemorative comic about that experience, about the beauty of the nature that surrounded us on our trip, and about the way friendships adapt during needed change.
Where do you see yourself at right now in your role as a writer? My goal is to write (and illustrate) comics for the rest of my life, and hopefully make a little money doing so. Right now, I’m working towards that goal by crafting as many meaningful stories as I can. I’m hoping to combine some of my favorite themes in writing, such as self-analysis, nature, and isolation, to create a unique genre that sets me apart as a writer.
How should Beyond Thought, as a journal, support you even more? It would be amazing if Beyond Thought had a space online to bring together artists of similar mediums or backgrounds, and create a place for them to speak to one another and potentially collaborate. As a comic artist, I’ve always wanted to collaborate with others, but it can prove challenging when we aren’t working within a structured environment.
About your piece:
Why did you decide to name the piece “The Transposition of Will?” The piece is about my friend moving across the country, a type of transposition (moving from one place to another), as well as a suggestion about Will’s experience of gender. Will is a trans man, and this was another huge and important transposition in his life that had a meaningful impact on how I related to him. Each of the transpositions in his life have led him to be an even smarter, kinder, and more complex person.
There is a sense of yearning within the piece, why did you think it was important to showcase that feeling? Relationships with friends can be just as, or sometimes more, intimate and meaningful than romantic partnerships. Maintaining a long-distance relationship with a close friend is difficult, but when you care about the person, it’s worthwhile work. The yearning is such an accurate feeling—I miss my friend all the time. But we’ve found a way to still be friends despite the many places between us.
Why did you decide to go with a muted color palette over others? What did you mean by doing so? I almost always work with a muted color palette. I was in an oil painting class once, in high school, and the very old, extremely Russian teacher told me my colors were muddy, and that he didn’t want to eat them. It was funny, but it also kind of bothered me. Not all art should have colors you want to eat—sometimes, the meaning is clearer when the colors are softer.
Your piece’s format is very similar to the visuals of a graphic novel. What did you mean by doing that? I’m a comic artist, and my brain always thinks in panels and text. But for this piece, specifically, there’s such a stillness in it (capturing a quiet memory where nothing much happens) while the comic format allows things to move (as you ingest the information on the page, reading the text and looking at time pass slowly in the various panels). Also, typically, I think all art is better if there’s a bit of time passing in it.
Is the subject of the piece supposed to be thinking of Will or are they Will? What is the connection between the two? Will is the title character, the boy in the grey sweatshirt. The text, or narration, is my personal thoughts as I think back on that camping trip in late February. We see Will, but we don’t hear his thoughts. We hear the narrator’s thoughts, but we don’t see them. In order to understand the piece, you need to connect both the narrator and Will in your mind. We are both distant from each other and connected. I’m not there with him, but my thoughts are. We are separated, but still, somehow, together.
