Juliette Collet

White Columns is proud to present Bobbie Cadet in the Court of the Ladybugs, the first solo exhibition by Juliette Collet (b. 2000.) The exhibition consists of original comic pages from Collet’s ongoing “Bobbie Cadet” series, including selected pages from the published first issue or “chapter” alongside pages from the forthcoming second chapter, concept drawings, and a hand-drawn advertisement for the series. What follows is a Q&A between Collet and Violet Saxon, White Columns’ Curatorial Assistant/Archivist.

White Columns: You work mostly as a comic book artist, and the works on display in this exhibition include comic pages and concept drawings for the first two chapters of your “Bobbie Cadet” series. Can you talk a little about the origins and development of the series?

Juliette Collet: I had started a story called “Bobbie Bondage” about a girl in an S&M relationship with her ex-professor. The idea was, Bobbie would embody this completely submissive role, but during S&M, she would dissociate into hypothetical realities where she was more in control of herself. Bobbie Cadet just happened to be one of these realities. That story ended up interesting me a lot more than the original story I was working on. The first chapter was inspired by a misconception a friend of mine had about tentacle porn.

WC: I first encountered your work in a group show at the artist-run space Rumpelstiltskin in 2024. You were just coming out of undergrad at that time, but I was immediately struck by how fully realized your work felt. In the years since, how have you understood/contextualized your work across comics, illustration and art?

JC: I think a difference between the fine art and the comics world is that in fine art you are often asked to “contextualize” your work, but in comics, you are just asked to work on it.

WC: One of the most distinctive aspects of your comics is the cast of characters — not only the protagonists but also their sidekicks, friends, lovers, enemies, etc. The worlds that they inhabit are clearly fantasy, but they also feel very lived-in. How do you go about developing a character and their broader “world”?

JC: More and more, I am approaching comics like a film director. I have to draw out every set and every costume. Making comics is like working on a film with an unlimited budget and no one you have to compromise with.

WC: Your writing is as distinct as your visual style, and is often very funny. Can you talk about the role of humor, or even irony, in your work?

JC: By the time I’ve written out a joke, I can never tell if it’s funny anymore.

WC: Your characters have really enviable outfits. How does clothing/fashion/costuming play into the stories you’re telling?

JC: My approach to science fiction isn’t genre based. I basically believe that humanity is a failed project. Bobbie Cadet is the alternate reality where the project doesn’t fail.

Juliette Collet (b. 2000) is a cartoonist. Her current series, “Bobbie Cadet” explores a future where humanity collectively self-sterilizes and returns the Earth to its pre-industrial state.