Welcome to Saturday Morning Cartoons, a segment where four artists take turns delighting you with their whimsy, facts and punchlines on Saturday mornings! Our esteemed cartoon critters are Cameron Glavin, Anna Bongiovanni, Megan Praz and Yao Xiao. Today’s cartoon is by Yao!
Yao Xiao is a China-born illustrator based in New York City. Yao Xiao creates artwork depicting a poetic visual world where complex concepts and human emotions are examined, amplified, and given physical form. Her work has helped people all over the globe connect at unique moments, from the celebration of the 20 Year Anniversary of the SXSW Interactive Festival, to the grand release of pop singer Katy Perry's single 'Dark Horse.' She has created deeply emotional and beautiful graphics for editorial print publications, pop music record covers, concert posters and book covers. Yao Xiao's serialized comic Baopu currently runs monthly on Autostraddle. It is an original comic exploring the nuances in searching for identities, connections and friendships through the fictional life of a young, queer emigrant. Baopu stands for 'holding simplicity,' a Taoist ideal of wishing to return to a simpler state. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Etsy or her website.
Yao has written 132 articles for us.
Fantastic! I always look forward to Yao Xiao’s posts. These comics always bring a bit of joy to my weekend.
Story of my LIFE!!! XD
Thanks. So much to think about.
So accurate
I love this.
Great comic. As someone who alternates beween being pretty femme and a bit more MOC this really resonated with me.
I am such a fan. Gorgeous, as always.
Another true comic. I also like how it delved into bisexuality.
I feel this
My life portrayed in comix. :\
As someone whose clothing alternates from super femme to not, this is sooo true omg.
This is everything, thank you. Last weekend, I attended a Dyke March, and the day before, a buddy of mine asked me “What are you going to wear?” It was the most serious, most perplexing question. We’re both fem-ish in presentation, and I think we both alternate between more relaxed clothing and feminine looks. We’re both bisexual women too, and we’re both currently seeing men. Our reflexion was that if we dressed too feminine and marched as bi girls, we might not actually be taken seriously (aka : the “fake bi girls”, whatever that is supposed to mean), and if we dressed tomboyish just to make sure to fit in, that would be a form of abdication to the existing stereotypes within the queer community.
I went in a form-fitting dress and lipstick, in the end, but I made sure to add a snapback. It is an outfit I actually wear very often, but the fact that I had to second-guess my choices is pretty weird.
The struggle is forever real…
Why do people always take presentation so seriously..I have this same problem
Ugh. This is my life.
I have to take a deep breath before I click to open these comics, because they tend to strike a deep chord, but it’s always so cathartic-ly worth it.