The Unspoken Truth is a series of webcomics created by Venezuelan artist Maria Guadarrama that feature a unique blend of emotional humor, taking the reader from lighthearted chuckles across to deep philosophical musings.
“I think the kind of people who enjoy my comics are the ones who like to take a look inside of them and the origin of their feelings,” Maria told Bored Panda. “Introspective and sensitive people, people who are in love.”
Maria works as a graphic designer as her day job, illustrating for The Unspoken Truth as a part-time job and hobby in the evenings. Art is her passion and has been since early childhood, and she takes her drawing inspiration from all the things that happen to her in her daily life. Maybe that's why these relatable comics hit home to so many.
Now living in Santiago, Chile, she feels a deep sadness about the way things have gone in her homeland. “It makes me feel hopeless and frustrated, especially when I think of my parents who are still living there,” she told us. “When I was in Venezuela, I worked for one of the most important newspapers there. But since the people who owned the newspaper were from the government, they were very specific about the subjects I was allowed to draw. I couldn't draw about politics or migration or economy.”
“There was a censorship of my funny comics because the power of doodling is big, I guess. Drawings make us approach knowledge in the way a child does. On the other hand, in South America, in general, there are a lot of illustrators with a strong voice and strong opinions, especially in Argentina and Mexico.”
While Maria says that she always tends to feel like an outsider, no matter where she goes, she is passionate about her country and longs for better days. You can read a beautiful and powerful comic about her thoughts on the situation in Venezuela here, it is a real eye-opener. She also has many similar works on her pages, which you can find linked below. Scroll down to check out her cute drawings on being in love and searching for those good relationships, and let us know what you think in the comments!
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This is why one should never dive in head first in a new relationship.
Wouldn’t work for me, I’d be reading and the person would just keep walking bc you don’t interrupt a good book
Achieved everything alone, without family or friends, which I don't have anyway.
Its a cute comic but it reminds me of the infected from The Last of Us too much. Sorry! XD
Your weirdness is tolerable???? I find that offensive. How about: Your weirdness is ADORABLE!
To me it seems like two adults with their own kidsand the “monsters” is the adults when they fight, are angry or upset
But he loves and cares for her so much, he’s willing to get over his vertigo
A little yappy dog PERFECTLY represents anxiety. It's always there, nipping your heels and trying to get your attention; you can maybe calm it down, but not always.
Sometimes you have to actively let the good things in (sunshine) and work to get rid of the bad things :)
Being depressed is not the same as suffering from depression. Maybe you don't use the word "depressed" like "sad" in English, and it's just a bad translation.
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As someone who has suffered from depression since childhood, I would like to try to explain this. You know that there are people who care about you and respect you. You know that you have had worthy accomplishments. You know that you are a worthwhile person. But during depressive episodes, your brain plays tricks on you, and convinces you that all of this is a lie. You may be only thinking about your faults and things you have done wrong. Medication and therapy can make all the difference. What's heartbreaking, is that so many people will not seek help because of fear or denial. A lot of people will bottle up their feelings and withdraw. I recently lost a neighbor to suicide. If you are suffering, please seek help. It doesn't have to end like that. :-(
It can make it worse for someone who is depressed to point out all the blessings in their life which mean they 'shouldn't be depressed'. It doesn't stop people feeling sad, it just means they feel guilty on top of that.
Exactly! And then they just feel like a s****y person on top of everything else because yes they are aware there are people in circumstances much worst than theirs but they don't have those past issues to make a comparison against. If someone's worst experience was for example spousal abuse and another person's worst experience was losing a loved one then both of those people in their own lives will consider that hitting rock bottom emotionally. People can't compare one person's depression to another's because we are all our own islands.
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I am sorry, but this naïve. Depression is a serious (often deathly) disease - not just a wrong way to look at reality...
or... you are depressed. depression is serious, and cannot be solved by simply paying attention to things around you.
Exactly! Before I got treatment for my depression, I knew I was blessed with many great things in life - a great kid, a nice career, good friends etc. and I could not understand why I still feel depressed. Turns out is is chemical imbalance in the brain and no amount of nice things could change that. Only medication could hep.
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Ah f**k wow my depression is gone. Suicidal thoughts? Buh-bye. Self harm? Adios. Trauma? Never heard of her. Thanks. This comic cured me. And to think I wasted all that time on talking therapy and antidepressants - silly me!
So far I have loved all the pics until I got to this one, this one just pissed me off. Depression is not just someone being distracted. Depression takes a lot of hard work to get out of and you never really get out of it 100%. You may get back to feeling like you happy self etc but one word or action can from someone can throw you straight back down into the pit of depression.
It's a vicious circle, that spirals in on itself. Anxiety or trauma overshadows the good things in your life, which leads to sadness, which further blocks out the good things in your life, which leads to depression, which further isolates you from the good things in your life, which leads to deeper depression, which further overshadows... Please remember that depression is a sneaky bastard that lies to EVERYONE: It keeps sufferers from seeing any light in their lives, and it makes non-sufferers think that it's something different, or that it isn't real.
Ah, this is the title of a poem by Facundo Cabral. Depresion needs treatment, of course, but the content of the poem is very nice.
This is more like, when you're feeling blue, look for a distraction. Hey, this a good cookie! Oh yeah, remember when I did that fun thing in college?
Feeling blue would have been a way more appropriate phrase to use in this one. Because right now it reads almost like they're saying "oh come on, snap out of it you'll be fine!"
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Each person's depression/depressive symptoms should be approached on an individual basis. Some people have maladaptive thought patterns. Others have chemical imbalances in the brain. Some have extrinsic factors like not having anyone to love them, instead having to live with someone in an abusive relationship (ex. abusove parent or spouse) and/or living in subhuman living circumstances. Some people benefit from medications, others from different psychotherapeutic treatments, and some from self-help. It's important to know that there's no universal cure, but there is A cure for someone.
Hey hey hey, hey hooman? Yeah, i see you are sad. Hey hooman? Can i help? Hey hooman. Hey. Hey. HEYYYY. Lemme help you please. Hooman. Lemme save you dis time.
I understand this. I have everything I want, I just still feel empty inside. Sad.
I feel the same. But honestly the only way to stop being sad is by stopping. And also agknowledge that you are sad it's it's okay.
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Out of all the things in the picture, I only have food... :') But still, it is my weapon. (Not gonna binge though)
Also, 'depressed' is not interchangeable with 'sad' or 'fed up'. Again, medical diagnosis.
'Depressed' is a medical diagnosis, like 'heart disease' or 'appendicitis', no amount of wishing and hoping will cure any of those and it's actually quite insulting to people with mental health problems to suggest that they should count their blessings or pull themselves together.
I am reminded how accurately this illustrates some important points mentioned in 'The Upward Spiral' by Alex Korb PhD. Thanks.
The comments are intersting and show that people tend to judge through their own lens. The comments often say a lot more about the commenter than the subject.
True. TBH I found it annoying when people insisted on putting their interpretation in the comments.....maybe I should look at it more like you did.
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Get out of my head! These are amazing and should be made into books and posters.
Some of these are nice and the illustrations are mostly lovely. However, by page two, I could no longer stand all the platitudes, the promotion of myths about how easy it is to change your circumstances (heavy survivorship bias) & adherence to arbitrary cultural norms (promoting serial monogamy).
“Want fries with that Liberal Arts degree?” Or, dare I say, “Very clever, but not so wise.” To you I could say, “oh please - knock it off.” More politely, I offer my critique of our criticism: • Just an educated guess, or “readymade assumption”, my hunch is you’re young & inexperienced in life.: • Let a little air out of your overinflated ego. • I understand ~ Perhaps you’ve never been a refugee /victim / survivor of hardship or other situation? Maria’s memes are made more clear & compelling precisely BECAUSE of the whole context & backstory. Thus, making these less hallmark “platitudes”, and more subtle double entendres where there‘s more than meets the eye. Oh sure, her imagery POV ‘s a strictly hetero-normative pair-bonding ritual (based on her Latino cultural immersion). I’m sure she’ll evolve further in time. Give her time. repeat : it’s about the journey. Let her go & grow. And you? Well, try using your polysyllabic arts-speak for a little feel good positivity too.
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I would love to follow her in my RSS feed, but I don't see these English versions on her site. Does anyone know if there's an English site?
Thanks for sharing BP. Bless her. 🙏🏼 She’s very gifted - her story compelling & bitter/sweet, yet sweet enough to be inspiring. Proof positive that art is truly amazing as self-therapy. Oh sure, many of us Artist/ Designer/ Creative types do our “make-a-living” day jobs, but we “make-sense-of-living”, by channeling some more time/energy into our personal passion projects, no matter if the media is musical, visual, written or whatever. She’s also created a very good side gig. Perhaps already takin off to eclipse her “day job”. Clearly her ability to universally communicate with an outside world may begin to nudge the boulder of change towards positive humanitarian outcome for her native Venezuela. 🇻🇪 . Boy, I’m sure inspired. 💝 Kudos to you Maria ❤️ She’d be lapped up in Canada that’s for sure. 😇
Bored Panda needs to spin off qall the cartoon threads to a separate channel.
Maria’s memes are made more clear & compelling precisely BECAUSE of the whole context & backstory. Thus, making these less hallmark “platitudes”, and more subtle double entendres where there‘s more than meets the eye. Oh sure, her imagery POV ‘s a strictly hetero-normative pair-bonding ritual (based on her Latino cultural immersion). I’m sure she’ll evolve further in time. Give her time. As she illustrated : it’s about the journey. Let her go & grow on hers. She ain’t “done” yet. She only just begun.
Well, that’s just your opinion. I, for one, found just the first page quite interesting, and, while I wouldn’t call it happy, It did make me smile.
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They're great! Good representation of each person experiences and emotions.
I honestly don’t understand why they’re banned in her country. They’re beautiful!
All of them were great except for 68, the one about how depression is just you being distracted. That one pissed me off as depression is nothing like just been distracted. Rest were fantastic though.
I totally agree. That one should be taken down, to be honest.
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I absolutely love these! They definitely make me think but I feel most of them also give us subtle, optimistic view of life. This makes the posts even more beautiful.
I love all of these, what an incredibly creative artist and philosopher!
I don't always read every post on an article, but for these I couldn't resist. Truly great comics
Lol what you fail to realize is that it's about handing a hard life, it's about having any life at all. These are experiences EVERYONE should be going through as a human being. She's just expressing and connecting with others. What really interests me, is why that makes you so bitter haha
Load More Replies... The comments are intersting and show that people tend to judge through their own lens. The comments often say a lot more about the commenter than the subject.
True. TBH I found it annoying when people insisted on putting their interpretation in the comments.....maybe I should look at it more like you did.
Load More Replies... Get out of my head! These are amazing and should be made into books and posters.
Some of these are nice and the illustrations are mostly lovely. However, by page two, I could no longer stand all the platitudes, the promotion of myths about how easy it is to change your circumstances (heavy survivorship bias) & adherence to arbitrary cultural norms (promoting serial monogamy).
“Want fries with that Liberal Arts degree?” Or, dare I say, “Very clever, but not so wise.” To you I could say, “oh please - knock it off.” More politely, I offer my critique of our criticism: • Just an educated guess, or “readymade assumption”, my hunch is you’re young & inexperienced in life.: • Let a little air out of your overinflated ego. • I understand ~ Perhaps you’ve never been a refugee /victim / survivor of hardship or other situation? Maria’s memes are made more clear & compelling precisely BECAUSE of the whole context & backstory. Thus, making these less hallmark “platitudes”, and more subtle double entendres where there‘s more than meets the eye. Oh sure, her imagery POV ‘s a strictly hetero-normative pair-bonding ritual (based on her Latino cultural immersion). I’m sure she’ll evolve further in time. Give her time. repeat : it’s about the journey. Let her go & grow. And you? Well, try using your polysyllabic arts-speak for a little feel good positivity too.
Load More Replies... I would love to follow her in my RSS feed, but I don't see these English versions on her site. Does anyone know if there's an English site?
Thanks for sharing BP. Bless her. 🙏🏼 She’s very gifted - her story compelling & bitter/sweet, yet sweet enough to be inspiring. Proof positive that art is truly amazing as self-therapy. Oh sure, many of us Artist/ Designer/ Creative types do our “make-a-living” day jobs, but we “make-sense-of-living”, by channeling some more time/energy into our personal passion projects, no matter if the media is musical, visual, written or whatever. She’s also created a very good side gig. Perhaps already takin off to eclipse her “day job”. Clearly her ability to universally communicate with an outside world may begin to nudge the boulder of change towards positive humanitarian outcome for her native Venezuela. 🇻🇪 . Boy, I’m sure inspired. 💝 Kudos to you Maria ❤️ She’d be lapped up in Canada that’s for sure. 😇
Bored Panda needs to spin off qall the cartoon threads to a separate channel.
Maria’s memes are made more clear & compelling precisely BECAUSE of the whole context & backstory. Thus, making these less hallmark “platitudes”, and more subtle double entendres where there‘s more than meets the eye. Oh sure, her imagery POV ‘s a strictly hetero-normative pair-bonding ritual (based on her Latino cultural immersion). I’m sure she’ll evolve further in time. Give her time. As she illustrated : it’s about the journey. Let her go & grow on hers. She ain’t “done” yet. She only just begun.
Well, that’s just your opinion. I, for one, found just the first page quite interesting, and, while I wouldn’t call it happy, It did make me smile.
Load More Replies... They're great! Good representation of each person experiences and emotions.
I honestly don’t understand why they’re banned in her country. They’re beautiful!
All of them were great except for 68, the one about how depression is just you being distracted. That one pissed me off as depression is nothing like just been distracted. Rest were fantastic though.
I totally agree. That one should be taken down, to be honest.
Load More Replies... I absolutely love these! They definitely make me think but I feel most of them also give us subtle, optimistic view of life. This makes the posts even more beautiful.
I love all of these, what an incredibly creative artist and philosopher!
I don't always read every post on an article, but for these I couldn't resist. Truly great comics
Lol what you fail to realize is that it's about handing a hard life, it's about having any life at all. These are experiences EVERYONE should be going through as a human being. She's just expressing and connecting with others. What really interests me, is why that makes you so bitter haha
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