Octavia Roodt

Octavia Roodt is a South African artist and researcher based in Belgium. A love of comics lured her away from the sunshine of her homeland to a residency in Angoulême, where she discovered an incredible range of visual storytelling and a healthy dose of culture shock. Somewhere along the way, Flanders stole her heart.

These days, she has laid her pen at the feet of a PhD at KU Leuven and LUCA School of Arts, where she works with a brilliant multidisciplinary team at the intersection of communication sciences, health humanities, care and ecological thinking. Together, they explore how comics can help people living with dementia share stories, memories and experiences. Her work is guided by the belief that drawing can open conversations that words alone cannot.