ZapSibNeftekhim to become a character featured in a comic book

18 july 2023

Student artists attending Tobolsk’s Historical Comics Workshop are in the process of putting together a collection of short pictorial novels dedicated to their city’s history. ZapSibNeftekhim will be featured in one of the comics as one of its characters. This creative initiative is being supported by SIBUR within the framework of the company’s Formula for Good Deeds program and the large-scale Siberian Seasons in Tobolsk project. The Workshop intends to unveil the collection of comics books at the September 2023 Book Festival, so it can get published in early 2024. As part of their project work, the budding comics artists were given a tour of the facility where they drew their sketches and shared their impressions of the comic book’s future "character".

Anastasia Aksarina, student at Tobolsk’s Multidisciplinary Technical College and the Alyabyev Children's School of Fine Arts:

In my comic book, I will be retelling the story of how rectification columns were being delivered to ZabSibNeftekhim, how they were being set up, and how the road was being constructed. The facility itself will be the story’s main protagonist with its story being told from the perspective of an individual working there. Our giant petrochemical plant is a celebrity in its own right, and I found it interesting to try to explore its imageries and character. I would like to add that from an artist’s standpoint the plant is an impressive sight with its own unique aesthetics. I am referring to the intertwined pipes, the huge tanks, the cooling towers. I had not expected it to look so beautifully. And the main thing is that all its elements are in harmony with each other and in harmony with the hues of the forest that grows right next to the plant.

The Historical Comics Workshop is being conducted on the premises of Tobolsk’s Multidisciplinary Technical College, the A.A. Alyabyev Children's School of Fine Arts and the Art-Perspectiva Children's School of Arts, as part of the cultural program titled Siberian Seasons in Tobolsk. Its attendees have been tasked with picking colorful characters for their stories and develop plots that would use contemporary artistic language to retell Tobolsk’s 500-year-long history. The students are being helped by the true stars of the Russian comics scene including illustrator Alexey Kapninsky, one of the genre’s pioneers, Mikhail Vizel, writer and translator of comics, Askold Akishin, a popular comics artist and a member of the Moscow-based KOM studio, a member of the Union of artists and graphic artists under the UNESCO International Artists’ Federation.

Guzel Tushakova, an art student:

This has been an amazing experience because we are being taught by the craft’s greatest. I hadn't realized before how difficult it is to make a good comic book, but as it turns out this is an art onto itself. I'm very grateful to our trainers for sharing their professional wisdom with us. In our book of comics, I am responsible for drawing the introductory part focusing on Tobolsk’s famous sights and vistas. To be honest, I hadn't thought that the plant could turn out to be among some of the most interesting outdoor locations. And, of course, I really liked the works by my fellow artists from the SIBUR's Good Neighbors team, their images of animals and birds on the plant’s tanks. I immediately thought that it was really great that the site had so many cool-looking art objects on its grounds!

The goal of the Historical Comics Workshop is to present the history of Tobolsk by using the voices of young Siberian artists attending the workshop as students. They have been working together with the nation’s renowned masters of the comics genre. One part of the pictorial novel is being drawn by Askold Akishin. In all, there will be about ten chapters in the book.

Elena Belskaya, Director of ZapSibNeftekhim’s Department of Government Relations and Socio-Economic Projects:

It is indeed true that as ZapSibNeftekhim was being built and readied for its commissioning, a number of unique solutions were tried and applied; this by itself may merit a separate book to be written about that. This explains the degree of interest these young artists have in exploring the enterprise and its aesthetics. Besides, over the last 20 years, the history of Tobolsk and that of SIBUR have become inextricably linked. In addition to contributing to the rapid development of the city’s social infrastructure, the company has been helping forge a creative environment in the area through its various cultural projects, such as Siberian Seasons.