i did this drawing for the new “unbound: gender in asia” issue of the kyoto journal. i originally submitted this along with “all i can see” for possible cover images. i guess they didn’t want so many nipples on the cover: “all i can see” didn’t get used at all, and this drawing is on the table of contents page. it’s strange, because i think “all i can see” is a way better drawing than this one. that’s okay, it showed up in the interview about me in the sheaf.

the actual cover of the kyoto journal issue shows a collection of women’s shoes. it was published back in november, but i couldn’t find it in any bookstores in saskatoon (it’s distributed all over the world). i had to wait to receive my copy from japan.

as a supplement to the issue, some of my drawings are being shown on the kyoto journal online. i chose the two drawings that i did on purpose for this submission, plus some other drawings that ended up having something to do with gender. or at least, they’re nipple-related.

i thought about the theme of gender when i was drawing “forbidden fruits” and “all i can see”. i don’t usually think about anything when i’m drawing, except drawing (and curb your enthusiasm, which i watch a lot while i’m drawing). i don’t really know what this drawing “means”, but that’s what i drew.

the kyoto journal is written in english, so you can read it too. look for it in your local bookstore. if you find it in saskatoon, let me know!

kon’nichiwa to my new visitors. my blog got linked from metafilter last night, and a couple of thousand people have stopped by already. at first, the site crashed, because i’m not used to so much attention. it took awhile to get back up. paul has turned off the lightbox pop-up effect and the flickr gallery plugin, and now things are working better.

i love the way my drawings were described in the metafilter link: “she has a way of making flayed flesh disturbingly cute.” “disturbingly cute” is the best compliment i can ask for. one of my friends on flickr, motocchio-chan, described my drawings as “guro-kawaii” (grotesquely cute). that was a good one too.

i had a good laugh reading the thread on metafilter. some people wanted a “NSFW (not safe for work)” flag in the post title, because some of my drawings show nipples. i don’t have a job, so i have no idea what’s safe for work these days. obviously, some people have issues with some body parts like, THE NIPPLES.

i’ve had this sort of excitement before. once my submission got rejected by a local public gallery due to the possibility that parents might be offended if their children saw my drawings. i guess it’s always wise to predict what people might feel and take precautions in advance, right? anyway, that precious experience inspired me to slice off my offensive body parts and soak them in bleach (warning, might be NSFW because of nipples that aren’t attached to a body anymore). in the end, the metafilter post about me was tagged “mildly NSFW”. i’m almost disappointed — might as well be “strongly” not safe.

hmm, maybe this is also “mildly NSFW” for its hallucinating effect…

anyway, welcome to my mildly controversial website. the blog has my drawings, pages from my amigurumi storybook, and some of my experimental cooking. there are some longer posts where i’m trying to be funny — don’t worry if it doesn’t make any sense. since the gallery plugin isn’t working, my temporary “gallery” is my flickr photoset page. we’re working on setting up a shop, but it won’t be ready for another month or so. i’ll be selling smaller originals, prints, postcards, palapala (flip) books, and some of my useless toys. you can read about me on the “about the author” page.

enjoy your visit! irasshaimase!

UPDATE: this is my self portrait, age 17. it’s the new header image for this blog. and i’ve made prints of this drawing, available in my SHOP.

is none of your business.

freshly drawn last night. colour pencils and paper*mate ballpoint pen.

(sold)