Melek Zertal: Next, Please
September 8–21, 2025
Helsinki Central Library Oodi, projection on wall, ground floor restaurant
“Next, Please” is an advanced excerpt of the last part of the Together trilogy by Melek Zertal, published by Colorama since 2018. The offset printed collection of all parts including more than 100 pages will launch in 2026. The version presented for Helsinki Comics Festival is an adapted version for screening, as the original one is a newspaper.
The Together trilogy consist of Fragile (2018), Together (2020), and Broken Hearts (2026) from which “Next, Please” is an excerpt. In this series, themes of contemplative yearning, romantic projection, and long distance relationship are explored.
Melek Zertal is a French–Algerian illustrator and comics artist, based between Paris and California. She likes to create contemplative, slow reading narratives, all put together by a thorough work of image curation and by washed out pastel colors. She tries to find a way to convey atmospheres that words cannot express, fleeting moments, and unrequited loves. An unforeseen warming sunshine in the midst of winter, last words of a loved one, four hands forging a cherry pie simultaneously. Stories have no beginning, no end; we’re just thrown in the middle of a story that sounds vaguely familiar. She has done illustrations for The New York Times, Gucci, and The New Yorker, and has books out on Colorama in Germany, Perfectly Acceptable Press in the US, Fidèle Editions in France, and Lystring in Sweden.
