From April 6 to April 17, the Studio Art program’s 2019 graduates will present the annual SUMMA exhibition. Entitled Counterpoint, the show will be curated by Hamilton textile artist Hitoko Okada. For the first time in over 30 years, the McMaster Museum of Art will not house the show due to its ongoing updates. The exhibition will instead take place at the Cotton Factory.
McMaster Studio Arts is a small program, with the fourth year class consisting of only 19 artists. With instruction on a range of media and a focus on environmentally responsible practices, the program has produced diverse artists who care about the world around them. Counterpoint means “to combine elements” and is fitting considering the amalgamation of their various styles and the balance they try to strike within their individual works.
The graduates organized the exhibition themselves. While it gave them a chance to learn more about the lives of professional artists, it also taught them to work together. Coordinating among 19 people was not easy and after some bumps in the road to find the perfect venue, they are all relieved to see the show finally coming together.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="268" gal_title="Grad Expo - Deeshani"]
Fernando spends a fair amount of time in nature, drawing and photographing the landscape around her. Back in the studio, she takes the colours, textures and lines from the environment to create the emotional and abstract landscape paintings that she’ll be displaying at Counterpoint.
“For me, [Counterpoint is] about… this the balance between the organic and the artificialness in my work… [I]t's taking… different colors… , textures and mark making and creating harmony and balance between all those different things within one image and creating a sort of peacefulness in that work,” Fernando explained.
Throughout the process of organizing the SUMMA show, Fernando learned how to survive as an artist. She feels that she now has an art practice of her own and regards her peers as professional contacts. As she leaves McMaster to pursue teaching, she will take those skills and contacts with her.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="269" gal_title="Grad Expo - Caroline"]
For Lee, Counterpoint refers to the way her class’s wildly different works complement each other. Having spent four years critiquing and supporting one another’s practice, the exhibition represents the harmony between their different themes and materials.
The Korean-Canadian artist explores traditional Korean materials in her work. She portrays these traditional materials in a modern, digital format and then incorporates threading to unite the two ideas.
“I always get confused between Canadian and Korean aspects of myself… [T]his sense of detachment, trying to attach to something or being porous, kind of like a sponge, absorbing a lot of different cultures in order to make up my singular identity. And just like maintenance of this traditional and modern form of art,” Lee said.
Currently aiming to go into interactive design, Lee feels she learned the reality of being an artist. She has been exposed to the business side of the art world by learning to solve problems creatively and produce even without inspiration. The program’s push toward using materials to convey subtle themes has evolved Lee’s art practice.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="272" gal_title="Grad Expo - Sean"]
Cooper didn’t have a lot of purpose behind his art when he entered the studio arts program. Four years later, he feels he is a more deliberate artist and currently explores ideas around memory and coming of age. At Counterpoint, he will be presenting acrylic paintings of Westdale, where he grew up.
“[W]ith my work, I just try and talk about what that experience was like… [D]ifferent places… might not necessarily be important to other people but I guess I have certain memories there,” Cooper said.
The fact that this is the last art gathering of his university career saddens Cooper, but he knows the entire class is proud of the show. Despite the challenges they faced, they demonstrated that they could accomplish anything with collaboration. The different backgrounds and art practices of the class would not seem to mesh, but Cooper feels a nameless common thread unites their work.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="270" gal_title="Grad Expo - Delaney"]
McVeigh believes process and environmentalism brings together her diverse class’ work. A self-identified environmental artist, she explores interactions between living things with one another and with inanimate objects. Having grown up in a small town near Point Pelee National Park, she spent a lot of time in nature growing up.
McVeigh’s work for Counterpoint is a series of photolithographic prints. This long and old process of creating images is meaningful to her. She tries to present her dystopian and nonsensical images in an aesthetically pleasing way with vintage elements.
“I use a lot of vintage imagery in my work… [A]fter World War II… there was the baby boom and they created a very unstable environment where it was a throwaway society. Nothing was fixed, it's all just thrown away… And then it wasn't until the ‘90s when the environment became a very serious topic,” McVeigh explained.
Her work is personal, but the program has made her more comfortable with speaking about her art. By sharing these narratives with her classmates and professors, they all grew close. She anticipates that this graduation show will be bittersweet, but there is a lot from her time at McMaster that she will be taking with her. She learned to critique her own work and reach out for help, which will help her as she pursues a career in sustainable architecture.
After graduating with her Bachelor of Fine Arts with minors in theatre and film studies and music, Conti will be going into teaching. Her teaching program will focus on educational art programming in the community, something that Conti is an advocate for. She is excited about the fact that Counterpoint will bring her program’s work off campus and into the Hamilton community.
Conti will be showing a five-piece installation consisting of floating boxes with deconstructed paintings in them. Her work revolves around her experiences with depression and anxiety to open a dialogue about mental health.
“[S]o for this body of work, there's five different stories to which I'm telling, one of which is the story about my mother's cancer. Normally… they're more negative experiences that I'm trying to understand in a more positive way. So my strokes are colors that are brighter in trying to… accept these experiences and… learn from them but also move forward,” Conti explained.
With her theatrical background, Conti sometimes feels as if she is performing herself. There is vulnerability in her portrayal of her life and she explores privacy versus vulnerability in her work. However, her time at McMaster gave her the confidence to tell her story through theatre, music and art.
The graduation show will open with a reception at the Cotton Factory from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 6. The graduating class looks forward to sharing their work with the Hamilton community.
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Kyle West
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This photography series was inspired by comparing classic symbolism of unity and strength with consideration to the themes of Sex and the Steel City. Across the world and throughout many diverse culture, the symbol of holding hands can be seen to communicate intimacy or a close relationship.
Taking this symbol and empowering it through strong vertical compositional choices lend the viewer to perceive these couples and their love as prevailing. The stylistic choices are a nod towards the strength and monumentality of the landscape work of Ansel Adams and the influential portraiture of Platon. Ultimately, Come Together is a story of love, unity and partnership and my best ability to document this.
Kyle West is a Hamilton-based photographer. He is in his final year of art history at McMaster University and is currently the Photo Editor for the Silhouette. West has developed a particular interest in portraiture over the years, often times turning to digital and film photography to capture his subjects in a beautiful light. From perfectly timed scenes of bustling city streets on film to carefully composed landscapes and journalistic endeavours, West also utilizes his photography as a means for storytelling.
Erin Nantais
This digital drawing entitled “Shower Scene” explores ideas and themes of intimacy that are typically uncomfortable for individuals to openly discuss.
Sex and sexuality are often unnecessarily forbidden topics that need to be reimagined as natural and normal.
Through this piece, sexuality is explored and depicted as natural, normal and familiar.
Simple lines and colours along with a minimalistic look are used to enhance the idea of intimacy as a normal and acceptable human experience.
Erin Nantais is a fourth year multimedia student at McMaster University. She typically works with photography and graphic design. Her personal style of work emphasizes strong lines and simple colour schemes to create a distinctive digital feel. Creative portraiture and animal photography are main sources of inspiration for most of Nantais’ work. Nantais has always been interested in art and photography and through her work she’s found a digital style that incorporates elements of both.
Jet
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Jet’s artistic process relies heavily on research into my chosen focus. It starts with the inquiry: “I want to understand more about…” as they then experiment with different mediums until they find the right material and presentation of their idea. Visualization is the key to their process where they push the boundaries of my idea and test as many possibilities as they can. When the piece is ready for an audience, Jet prefers the audience takes part in the outcome of the work itself.
Jet works mainly with performance, video, sculpture, photography and painting. They try not to ever limit myself to one medium. Jet encounters ideas that seem to float in the air and works with them, listens to them, becomes them and finds the best method to allow the work to exist in harmony with the audience.
Jet’s practice often explores the human body in all of its physical and ethereal elements. Throughout their life they have always made space for themselves to imagine and work out complex issues. This gives them the head space to create and transform what is not yet physical into a tangible piece.
Jet is a multidisciplinary artist who emigrated from Mexico in 2009. They grew up feeling that they didn’t always belong. Social norms, family, friends, peers, the state, and especially an oppressive culture of dominance, sought to limit the creativity of their soul. Now their work reflects a rebirth of expression, and the power of the artist’s will to transform the unseen beauty that surrounds them.
Cait Gautron
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In her first piece, Eviscerate (3016), in using fruit to mirror anatomy Cait Gautron was seeking to question ideas of ripeness and primacy in media surrounding sex. Shadowing the piece are ideas of destruction and decay. With these characteristics she playfully seeks to evoke viscera while using approximate substitutes to create a surreal and dreamlike atmosphere.
Coercion (2018), oil on canvas. With this work, Gautron seeks to raise issues around social and institutional factors which motivate consent and the fear felt by participants who may unknowingly fall in to the role of perpetrator or victim.
In oil paints Gautron seeks to explore the delicate balance between desire and disgust, growth and decay, inherit in human anatomy. Raised by an artist mother, the majority of her early artistic education came from exploring the galleries and museums of Europe in her early teens. In that time she became enamoured with the lustre of Vermeer’s still lifes and the contortion of Schielle’s portraits. Currently enrolled in her second year of McMaster University’s studio arts program, Gautron has just began to show her work around Hamilton and Ontario.
Kayla Da Silva
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or nothing at all.
It’s 11:07 am.
You check your phone.
For a moment
you can’t breathe
and then breathing
happens all at once.
Too fast. Too frequent.
Depression lingers
in the depths of your mind
and anxiety holds
you by the throat.
_
It’s 9:27 pm.
You ask them to choose you,
but they show you
they never will.
Over and over again.
You knew all along
this was going
to happen.
The red flags
waved furiously
but they were in
your blind spot.
_
Now.
You are accompanied
by your old friend,
insomnia.
You are enveloped
with exhaustion,
and gently embraced
by the solace of truth.
Sometimes
you have to choose if
you want to pick
the dandelion
or the rose
or nothing at all.
The artwork accompanied by the poetry is meant as a reflection of relationships that are emotionally damaging. More times than never, an individual in the relationship may not be aware of how complicated the situations were until leaving them.
The series is meant to highlight the mental turmoil an individual can experience when the pattern of behaviours from a partner negatively impacts their state of mind. When being in a complicated relationship, it can often lead to an internal conflict when they are in-love with their partner.
The difficult question is; how long can one hold on to what appears to be a rose when the thorns cause trauma? A partner should never put you in a position where you need to routinely put your wellbeing at risk.
Kayla Da Silva, also known as Kaylita, is a creative and a designer. She has found her poetry to be a suitable companion to the visuals she creates. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in multimedia and communications from McMaster University and currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario working full-time as a junior graphic designer.
Instagram: @iamkaylita
Matty Flader
CW: Disordered eating
For me, sex and food have always had their limbs awkwardly intermingled (in a no eye contact Grindr hookup sort of way). I know what you’re thinking: “how deep, bananas look like dicks and I’m entirely enthused and kind of turned on.” Yet, the story of this photograph is really one of inner turmoil, anguish and ultimately resistance. The food/fuck correlation, as I call it, has lingered like an unwanted houseguest in my head for quite some time now. It goes something like this: the less sex I’m having the less I feel I’m allowed to eat. In times of plentiful or at least grandiose sexual conquest, I can take a breath… or, a bite I guess. The logic is as desperate as it is simple. If I’m not getting laid, I better stop snacking and start looking like a snack. The food/fuck correlation not only problematically frames sex as some prize for me to win, it also leads me through disorderly cycles of eating. It’s all too easy for the things I did or didn’t eat to change my self-perceived body image.
This self portrait is meant to picture the undying torment food puts me through. Putting a voice to this struggle challenges the hegemonic belief that men, those wonderful, tenacious beasts, could never develop eating disorders. The photo challenges the societally constructed ideal of a man who is too tough to feel pain. Inability to conform to this ideal can strip one of his own masculinity. As men the borders of our gendered and sexual identities are constantly under scrutiny by our peers. For most, it’s far easier to conform by reproducing masculinity however they see possible. As a result, men are taught that being normal means never being vulnerable. Expressions of masculine insecurity like my food/fuck anxiety are constantly pushed to the margins of society. I say fuck that. Through this photo I proudly shout: I am a man, I have feelings, sometimes I feel insecure, but here I am. And hey, I bet you’d still fuck me.
Matty Flader is an emerging artist based in Hamilton, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia. He takes an interdisciplinary approach to art projects, with a specialization in portrait photography. Flader’s work concerns a broad range of topics, including gender performance, eating abnormality and responses to current events. He often challenges difficult ideas through a humourous lens in attempt to bring attention to the absurdity of this world.
Instagram: @matt_der
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In preparation for our interview, Yigi Chang laid out a table full of his artwork and crafts. He had coasters featuring the gaping anuses of men, which he carefully painted, felted, resined and assembled. He had cum rags with open-mouth portraits, a button with a golden crown of cocks and an intricate penis bookmark. He was drinking coffee out of his signature “Cup of Joe Mug”; with a naked man doing the backstroke, erect cock poking out of a swimming pool of his own cum.
Chang’s art, especially in his crafts and prints, convey a visual joke. The images are often so ludicrous in concept that it is difficult to always categorize his art as strictly erotic. His work is intended to lift the spirits of his audience. Laughter is Chang’s method, but he ultimately uses it to dispel the shame and guilt associated with sexuality.
“There’s a lot of baggage that comes with sex and I want to alleviate all of that,” said Chang. “I want to remove the historical, negative stigmas that are associated with homosexuality.”
Eminent Coronation Yigi Chang
“If I can make someone laugh, I can break the tension, frustration or anger that’s directed towards me. I feel like that’s a footing that we are now sharing together.”
While Chang has obviously embraced this expression of sexuality, practicing erotic art as a teenager was not without that shame.
Growing up in Markham, Chang recalled not having access to a large gay community. As a teenager who often found himself home alone, he had to explore sexuality and sexual experiences through his art. He used his art as an excuse to watch pornography on the early Internet, insisting that he was just looking for photo references.
There's a lot of baggage that comes with sex and I want to alleviate all of that. I want to remove the historical, negative stigmas that are associated with homosexuality.
Yigi Chan
Artist
With the help of porn and sport and fitness magazines, Chang was improving his sense of anatomy and refining his line work. But Chang was still embarrassed the moment that he finished, and he would draw over the same page with another nude body, gradually obscuring each image.
“I sort of built up this layered and linear style, and that’s how I disguised what was going on,” explained Chang. “At the end of the day it would be like this line orgy where no one could be distinguish what was happening. Every now and then you would see an explicit part; you’d see a little butt here, you would see a foot there and then have to delve into it to unravel what was happening.”
As much as Chang attributes his artistic interest to being a horny teenager left to his own devices, he is recognizes that his fixation on sexual subjects is a result of his queer experience.
Bumper Buns Yigi Chang
“As a queer youth you are confronted a lot, through societal norms… you’re forced to question your sexuality.… Oftentimes for me art was ‘art as therapy’, but it was self-directed therapy. I couldn’t even recognize that it was a moment for myself to reflect… and to process. It was a way for me to process my queer experience growing up.”
Chang continued to thrive in the arts throughout high school, ultimately leading to his enrollment at OCAD University where he received a BDes in illustration. He decided to use his thesis to bring queer culture to an unfamiliar audience, with his own dash of absurdity, fantasy and visual humour.
Queer as Folklore is a series of illustrations that present modern day fables that explain the mythological origins of gay culture. Some of Chang’s personal favourites include the origin story of the “Glory Hole”, which are holes in wall used for anonymous sex, but were originally invented when unicorns teleport into men’s bathroom stalls and accidentally drill holes in the walls with their horns. Chang depicts a half-dog, half-human “Self-Sucker” that originated oral masturbation, and a mythical, giant pair of scissors that lesbian couples use to untangle their pubic hairs.
A Humble Tumble Yigi Chang
The tonal decision behind Chang’s work goes beyond visual gag. Queer as Folklore invites those outside the LGBTQ+ community to not only understand their slang and language, but to participate in this tongue-and-cheek and humorous attitude that is sometimes forced onto queer sexuality.
“I think it was something that Dan Savage… who is a sex columnist [said]. As a queer person, when you come out, you have to go to your [parents] and say, ‘Hey I’m gay’. What they hear is ‘Hey I suck dick’. Subconsciously that’s the image that they are seeing so you’re always confronting the extreme image. So you have to deal with it a bit of irreverence. I think humour has always been the coping mechanism.”
By alleviating the tension and seriousness of sexuality, Chang’s work both embraces the power of sexuality, while recognizing and combatting the cultural and political forces that try to control that power.
Chang’s artistic journey has been one of liberation, not just for himself, but also for an audience that he has invited to share in his love for sexuality. It is in this love for the body and a love for laughter in spaces where there once was shame that is apparent in every line he draws.
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By: Jackie McNeil
I’m a student who prides myself on my organization skills, so when I first heard of bullet journalling I couldn’t tear myself away from the many videos, blogs, and Pintrest boards devoted to it.
Bullet journalling was created by a New York-based digital product designer to serve as a “customizable and forgiving organization system,” according to its website. Branded “the analog system for the digital age,” the original bullet journal uses specific symbols to keep track of tasks completed, migrated and scheduled as well as events, notes and much more.
I used this method for about a week before I found it to be ridiculously overwhelming. If you’re a naturally organized person and think that you can keep track of the many different symbols, lists, and indexes the bullet journal suggests you use, it certainly doesn’t hurt to give their system a try.
For most of us it’s much easier to choose a few specific aspects to focus on. I simplified it to two basic symbols to signify tasks to be done, and miscellaneous notes that accompany them.
Despite trying to find creative new ways to print or handwrite, all I see reflected in the journal are my own shabby printing skills.
The bullet journal creators also suggest a log-style overview of your year, then individual months, and finally weekly layouts to function as your planner.
My friend and bullet journal novice Larissa Oke, had never heard of the original bullet journal. She based her layouts only on the content created by her friends or examples found on Pintrest. She found that you don’t need to stick to the original bullet journal’s structure to successfully use it; one of the best aspects of a bullet journal is the ability to make it entirely your own. This is how some of the most fun page layouts have been created, from mood trackers to a designated space for doodling.
“Bullet journalling is a way for me to combine the sketchbook I’d started with my personal journal and an organization system that improves on my old planner that I was tired of,” explained Oke.
She began her bullet journal late last year after seeing encouragement from a roommate who had fallen in love with her own journal.
Now she enjoys devoting time at the start of each week to plan out a balanced social life with schoolwork, as well as relieving stress with the less structured pages for sketching or tic-tac-toe.
Although it may seem trivial, the aesthetically pleasing aspect of bullet journalling relies almost entirely on your own abilities to write neatly and find artistic ways to decorate pages.
I may not have illegible handwriting, but it’s also not something I enjoy looking at. Despite trying to find creative new ways to print or handwrite, all I see reflected in the journal are my own shabby printing skills.
Bullet journaling is a way for me to combine the sketchbook I’d started with my personal journal and an organization system that improves on my old planner that I was tired of.
Larissa Oke
Bullet Journal Novice
It’s easy to get intimidated by the countless examples of gorgeous writing and perfectly centered titles found online, but if you can learn to accept the hard work you put into your journal, it could be worthwhile to try out a fun new style of planning.
Your bullet journal can be decorated using all kinds of artsy doodles or stickers, and it almost always ends up looking great. However, you need to decide if it’s worth the time it takes to completely design your own planner, sketchbook and journal. One basic weekly layout took me almost a half an hour to complete, without adding any colours or drawings.
A popular method is to create your layout over a weekend or a school break from the day you’re making it all the way until the next foreseeable break you’ll have, whether that’s the next weekend or the February reading week. It’s important to find a time frame that works best for you, because if you don’t have enough weeks in your journal, you might be frustrated with the lack of foresight in your schedule.
But if you make too many weeks at once, the monotony may make the bullet journalling process overwhelming and boring.
The bullet journal has not made a successful convert out of me, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re looking for a planner and a planner only, I would steer clear. There are a variety of reasonably priced planners out there that are likely to have a structure that covers all your bases.
If, however, you think you could benefit from the creativity it allows, give bullet journaling a try. It may not be meant for everyone, but bullet journals have the flexibility to become the perfect planner made just for you, by you.
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
Whether you’re a Trekkie, an aspiring cosplayer or simply hoping to meet others who share your interests, this weekend belonged to the fans as they took over the downtown Toronto core. Punisher, Batman and Superman all have big releases this month and made their presence known from the moment I got off the subway and headed to Toronto ComicCon. An annual convention, Toronto ComicCon takes over the city center for a three-day affair full of comics, cosplay and everything in between.
What some fans may not realize though is that attending these conventions could result in your passions and hobbies one day becoming a career. That’s how it went for Michael Walsh, one of Marvel Comics’ biggest rising stars whom I had the pleasure of interviewing at the convention. We talked about his career, what he’s working on next and what knowledge he’d most want to impart on those who want to create comics for a living too.
While Batman’s home may be Gotham City, one of the biggest rising stars in comics actually calls the Hammer home. “I almost went to McMaster,” Walsh first tells me when I introduce myself to him having noticed my press badge and white McMaster T-shirt. As an alumni of OCAD, he’s familiar with touring the whole portfolio circuit when he was first trying to get published.
With a heavy, murky use of black ink, his art is difficult to describe. His substantial use of blacks is interlaced with cartoony elements. While the style may look simple, on a deeper analysis one can quickly surmise that it’s a stark juxtaposition to the emotional weight that his art carries.
While others on the Toronto ComicCon floor had booths rammed with books, art-prints, merchandise and T-shirts, Michael Walsh sat behind his desk with his portfolio of black and white art in front of him. He quipped that he doesn’t like travelling with his books, referring to all his illustration work that fans are always eager to buy straight from the creators at conventions. “They’re too heavy and I don’t want to lug them around, I’d rather put my art on full display.”
It’s that same art that has made him so prolific in all of Hamilton’s comic book shops. Whether it was Comic Connection, Big B Comics or Conspiracy Comics, the staff at all the stores held Walsh in the highest regard, eagerly describing his art style with all manner of positive superlatives. Walsh is also equally famous among his peers for his down to earth personality and eagerness to meet fans and talk shop. Even the staff at Mixed Media, an art store on James St North, pitched paintbrushes and inks to me by saying they’re the same ones Michael Walsh uses, long before I had the chance to make his acquaintance.
Walsh first work was Comeback, a comic that he looks back on fondly. Written by Ed Brisson with art by Walsh, Comeback told the story of two criminal agents, who could undo the untimely demise of a loved one, for a large nominal fee of course. “Comeback was my first professional work, it always gets compared to Looper, because of the timing of the release, but they couldn’t be any more different. Yeah they both had time-travel but Comeback was more sci-fi street-level crime. It was bad timing, but I’m always happy when it makes a Comeback [editor’s note: pun is Walsh’s own] and a fan brings it for to me to sign,” said Walsh.
These days however he’s one of Marvel Comic’s most prolific artists. His first job at Marvel was Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra — a one shot that came out late summer. “Right now, I’m doing this X-men series, its called X-Men: Worst X-man Ever and it’s a five issue mini-series.”
Walsh’s next project will be a collaboration on The Vision with another rising star at Marvel, Tom King. King is a former CIA counter-terrorism agent and has been writing an ongoing based on the eponymous member of the Avengers. Filling in for art duties, he praises his collaborator, saying, “If you haven’t read Tom King’s work its so good. You need to check out his other work because I’m so happy to be working with him.”
His charisma and passion for talking about comics is easily contagious. Before he could get any work in comics however, Walsh was creating posters for concerts. Now he’s happily looking forward to what the future holds.
“I’m in such a good place right now, if I went back and I did something differently back then who knows where I’d be. I went through some really hard times with being unhappy with my output and thinking that my work was just not of a high quality,” he said.
“If I could impart one thing of advice on those that are coming up it’s that you won’t always be happy with what you’re doing. But to be at peace that you’re not always going to be happy with the stuff you’re doing but know that you can get better so keep striving and working for greatness in your own work.”
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
If Aziz Ansari’s specialty is discussing the problems facing millennials then Sina Grace proves to be the absolute master of drawing them out in his new graphic novel, Self-Obsessed. This especially rings true in the amazing way technology has transformed the way we, as a society, communicate with one another. We live in a world where, more often than not, rather than speak openly about what’s bothering us we would rather text about our problems. We communicate through short messages with our friends instead of talking about our problems with them in person. Sina Grace, however, bucks that trend completely. He doesn’t want to write or talk about his problems because, in his own words, he’d much rather draw them.
Taking more than a decade’s worth of doodles, drawings, essays and some new strips, Self-Obsessed by Grace is an unfiltered look at his psyche and insecurities. What truly makes his graphic novel striking is inclusion of his old work, in chronological order, with his new strips. The juxtaposition between the works he did early in his adolescence with the new material that he created for this graphic novel allows readers to effectively see not just Sina’s journey as a cartoonist, but also his coming of age.
And while some of his problems may have been difficult for this heterosexual reader to relate to, particularly the ones relating to Grace’s sex life, there was plenty that also echoed true for me. Self-Obsessed captures the emotional angst and turmoils that we’ll face at some point or another while we continue on this never ending process of “growing up.” This can best be seen in the way Grace’s art evolves in Self-Obsessed. I have to commend Grace for having the courage to open up, create and share this intimate work of art with us.
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