A comprehensive look into the history of Matches' values and grievances. Interview with Nicholas Burman, a regular contributor to comics review platform My Chicken Enemy.
Interview © Nicholas Burman
"Amsterdam based, Canadian born cartoonist and comics creator Maia Matches is a prominent name in the Dutch capital’s comix scene. Alongside her numerous zines, collaborative newspapers, and long-form sequential works, she also regularly produces posters for concerts and club nights. Her work can generally be split into two categories. Firstly, the sex satire, inspired by cartoonists such as R. Crumb but told from a staunchly female perspective. Her “The Bitch” character is one such example: a no-nonsense, S&M loving, INCEL-fighting action woman. She also produces journalistic work, often regarding the squatting and autonomous communities that were once a hallmark of Dutch culture, and often also depicts broader social discourses ranging from migrant crises and immigrant rights to sex and gender politics.
It is perhaps because of this interest in the political, combined with a track record of cooperative work and journalistic integrity, which won her the title of City Illustrator of Amsterdam for 2019. This position finds her and her work being brought into much more mainstream spaces than most comix creators are used to, but also shows that there is still some interest in the halls of city’s government buildings to promote some of the rebellious spirit that drew Maia to the city in the mid-2000s.
I caught up with Maia over email, and at her studio in De Pijp, an Amsterdam neighborhood currently succumbing to rapid gentrification, to discuss her work, her role as City Illustrator, and the importance of social spaces for zine culture and artists."
Read the full interview HERE! (Thanks Nick!)
