COme VIte Distanti

Abstract Coordinated by the ARF! Comic Book Festival as fundraising for the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, COme VIte Distanti [Like Distant Lives] is a collaborative Italian comic created by around eighty artists that published daily on social media during the first COVID-19 lockdown (March–May 2020). This article analyses the comic as visual ethnography, by examining: (i) its narrative choices in representing diverse pandemic experiences; (ii) the organisational efforts of ARF! , informed by interviews with director Stefano Piccoli and artist-activist Anna Cercignano; and (iii) the role of audience engagement through social media. We discuss how comics can act as reflexive ethnographic tools and vehicles for activism: witnessing the pandemic's impact on intimate spaces and vulnerable communities, amplifying marginalised voices, and generating tangible support through creative fundraising.