Manga is a dynamic visual language that has evolved through a continuous process of artistic and cultural exchange. While deeply rooted in Japan, it has always evolved through new influences, technologies, and creative reinvention. What does it mean to engage with this form as a creator? How can making, exhibiting, and teaching manga in new contexts challenge dominant ideas about artistic legitimacy and global storytelling?
This talk explores these questions through the lens of Kofi Bazzell-Smith’s work as an artist, educator, and researcher between Japan and the U.S. His practice centers on creating and exhibiting manga in innovative ways, experimenting with new storytelling formats, interdisciplinary approaches, and alternative presentation strategies. As an educator, he extends this exploration into the classroom, integrating manga’s artistic, linguistic, and cultural dimensions into his teaching. His projects—Radius, a multimedia Afrofuturist manga interrogating power and technology, and Azuki, a martial arts comedy built around rock-paper-scissors—expand what manga can be while remaining deeply engaged with its visual language.
Beyond his own work, Bazzell-Smith is developing new ways for artists to engage with manga as a living, evolving practice. His study abroad program connects American students with industry professionals in Japan, placing them in direct apprenticeship roles. More than just learning technique, this challenges students to engage with manga as an active practice, rather than a distant subject of study.
Rather than reinforcing fixed borders, this talk considers how manga serves as a bridge between cultures—facilitating dialogue, exchange, and new creative possibilities.
Kofi Bazzell-Smith is an artist, professional boxer, and the first professor of manga practice in the U.S. He teaches manga drawing and storytelling at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he also leads a summer study abroad program in Japan. Through his work, he explores the intersection of manga, education, and cross-cultural storytelling. View more of his work on Instagram.
This event is free, but registration is required.
