Terror on the brain

Terror on the brain is a cartoon series for adults, told and drawn by Jakob Albrethsen. By means of text and drawing, Albrethsen seeks to highlight and overcome the distance that can be created between the stream of information in modern times and the people it is intended to reach. As if a prose poem in word and image, this series examines terror from several perspectives. Jakob Albrethsen says of his work: „Terrorism is an extreme example of current communication, which, similar to advertisements and political messages, attempts to penetrate the defences of the brain, thereby seeking to influence our actions. In times of terror, the front lines are not located between states, but the edges of interior boundaries – within the individual’s brain. Terror on the brain attempts to breach the distance that a constant stream of news creates between people with an unfiltered, open presentation of what we might be thinking, before we decide what it means. This process is an important foundation for a truly democratic debate.“

About the author 

Jakob Albrethsen (b. 1973) is a senior researcher at Rigshospitalet (the central hospital in Copenhagen) in the department for growth and reproduction. He draws in his free time, and has created both the text and images of the series Terror on the brain. Albrethsen’s literary debut, Alt du kan se (Everything you can see) was published by Fahrenheit in 2014 and nominated for the Ping Prize in the category of Best Danish Debut.

Text translated by Lin Falk van Rooyen