Tàssies

Tàssies was born in 1963 as Josep Antoni Tàssies Penella in Barbastro in Aragón. He is licensed in Journalism [UAB, Barcelona], has a master’s degree in Editión [UB, Barcelona] and, since 1983, has had his works published in the press. His journalistic illustrations have been recognised twice with Junceda Awards by the Professional Association of Illustrators of Catalonia.

Tàssies is the full author of illustrated books, equally intended for both adults and children. His picture book »El nen perdut« [2008; Eng. »The Missing Child«, 2018] won the SM International Illustration Award 2008 and the prestigious Grand Prix BIB [Biennal of Illustrations Bratislava] in 2009. In his book about children and war, a girl plays with a Christmas crib in the night before Epiphany, while waiting for the three kings to bring their gifts to baby Jesus. But the small figure of Jesus is missing, and the girl goes to sleep worried. In a dream, she embarks on an adventurous search for the figure among ruins in Kabul, under Bagdad, through Mariupol bombs, along migration caravans, into the refugee camps, where she will be given a magic gift that money could never buy.

Tàssies presented his work against bullying, »Noms robats« [2010; tr: Stolen Names], in a solo exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2010. It has been published in Spain, Russia, Greece, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, and in Germany under the title »Geraubte Namen« [2022]. »Noms robats« poses a question to the reader: What if you felt like a pear in a world of apples? Here you follow the story of a boy who has no name, for it was stolen from him at school. You will live a whole school day in the life of this boy suffering bullying, and it could be the last day in his life if he does not find a friend. Will you be that friend? Tàssies’ work »An« [tr: If], a powerful poem about freedom by the greek writer Agathi Dimitrouka, was included in the White Ravens List 2019 and won The State Prize for Illustrated Childrenʼs Book of the Ministry of Culture, Greece, 2020. The work is to be published in China in 2022. His last opus, »Jīnsè de yǐngzi« [tr: Golden Shadow], is a double-album that closes a trilogy about children’s rights under problematic issues: war, bullying, and abandonment. The book is to be published in China in 2022.

Tàssies’ work has been featured in solo exhibitions since 2010 in, among other places, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Croatia, Russia, and Japan. Tàssies has been invited to participate in international speeches, courses, and workshops since 2010 in, among other places, Athens and Thessaloniki [Greece], Moscow and Kransnoyarsk [Russia], Zagreb [Croatia], Milan and Bologna [Italy], Pilzen [Czech Republic], Bratislava [Slovak Republic], Bogotá and La Guajira [Colombia], and Yakarta [Indonesia]. He has served as an international juror for the Bologna Childrenʼs Book Fair [Illustrators’ Exhibition] in Italy, the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava in Slovakia, the Mikhalkov Prize in Russia, and for the 2018, 2021 and 2022 Image of the Book International Contest. Tàssies lives in Brunyola, Catalonia.

Date: 2022

Das verschwundene Kind

Edition Bracklo
Gräfelfing, 2018
[Ü: Jochen Weber]

Geraubte Namen

Edition Bracklo
Birkenwerder, 2022
[Ü: Jochen Weber]