I once complained about how terrible I looked in a photograph.
“Now you know how ugly you are,” my mother said.
“How can you say that to your own daughter?!” I shouted.
“I’m just trying to be agreeable,” she said.
And so it goes.
Since 2003, I have worked on a series of drawings about my mother. “Ma” is a funny lady, and I wanted to share these stories. Employing text and image, I adopt the voice of an overly eager child, and the seemingly simple style of children’s books and comics emphasizes my wry interpretation of the rather pathetic dramas that are the stuff of life.
This collection of humorous vignettes highlights cultural and generational differences between members of an immigrant family, alternating between parody and homage. Maternal relationships are notoriously fraught with conflicting emotions. They also reveal aspects of our culture, power dynamics, and the shifting nature of one’s prejudices. ◊
