Introducing Raspberry Red
Raspberry Red is a YA Graphic Novel about an over-responsible Asian-American teenager who begins to take agency in her life when all order is lost.
Click below to request a PDF of the pitch materials.
The Exhibition
I created three posters in floating frames with cutouts to reveal the raspberry red wall behind, creating intimate “windows” into the internal world, next to a real window sculpture. I used my three posters to explore emotive dynamics using the combination of comics and fine art with Risograph as a medium. The attention to environmental design shows the maturity of the character.
The Inspiration
I have always loved coming-of-age films and novels, as sort of roadmaps for surviving my teen years and for proof that life gets better. They talked about tough experiences that weren’t talked about in real life. Experiences that on the surface, looked like no one in my Kansas suburban town was going through. As a trauma survivor, my early adulthood has been about telling my story over and over—to protect, to express, and to inform. But I have found that identifying with pain, and accomplishment despite pain, is has no satisfying end, and that true fulfillment is found in mundane connection. I have always kept diaries and made self portraits about the mismatch between my inner and outer world, it is my main goal to publish what I’ve learned and encourage people to engage with the arts therapeutically. I hope I can encourage young people in unsafe homes to understand their experiences and to soak up all the outside world has to offer.