‘The Semi-Fictional Character of the Day’ is a joint, one-month project by Louiza Mallouri and Constantinos Xenofontos. Constantinos will be sketching a semi-fictional figure every day, and Louiza will be writing an accompanying storyline, as inspired by that character. The aim of this project is to explore the way two semiotic systems, the visual and the linguistic, interact and complement each other to tell a story.
The highly esteemed prize. The picture within the picture. It was around the time I was appointed as a junior lecturer to the University that she had received this international distinction. I was the youngest member in the department. She was my director and also my bully. At the playground I didn’t have to deal with any, but I had to in academia… She tortured and burdened me with trivialities, constant nit-picking and aggressive, demeaning comments. Thing is that I looked up to her so I thought, ‘Maybe if I work harder,’ ‘Maybe if I do it this way.’ Unrealistic and poisonous. And then, there were the rumours she spread about me. I looked into how I could make a difference but I realised that people who attempted to were rewarded with more abuse. I was trapped: my supervisees, my research funding, my collaborations. I was a grown up. What do grown ups do when they are bullied?
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