Vel Graphic novel by Sabien Clement and Mieke Versyp The graphic novel ‘Vel’ (in Dutch) tells the story of Rita and Esther. Rita is an older woman, just divorced, trying to reinvent her life. Esther is a young woman who struggles with her long, skinny body. They meet in the model sessions that Esther organises and in which Rita is the model. Throughout the sessions, Rita’s embarrassment about her aging body diminishes and she finds her joy for life again. Esther falls in love with a man, but he disappoints her and makes her collapse. It is an intimate, sensitive, but also humorous book in which looking and being looked at is central, but also skin (and crawling out of it), growing older, shame, pride, intimacy. Text: Mieke Versyp Illustrations: Sabien Clement Publisher: Oogachtend (2021) https://www.sabienclement.be/