This month’s Image-Maker in Residence is illustrator, comic book artist and activist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. Lisa’s artwork highlights the impact of racism against East Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, a known issue but one not much discussed in mainstream media. Her beautifully rendered work gives a platform and voice to the East Asian diaspora, tackling a host of issues from sexual objectification and adoption to activism, colonialism and a whole lot more. Read on!
Protest against Asian hate crimes
Daryl J WongWho are you?
My name is Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. I’m a comic book artist, illustrator and adoptee rights activist. I’m a Korean adoptee who grew up in Sweden, but I currently live in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa with my partner, our two lovely children and a cat.
Tell us about your practice and the research project you are exploring as part of this residency.
Many years ago, I was introduced to Instagram by a Chinese adoptee who had just started an account that would highlight adoptee experiences and realised what a powerful tool it could be for producing and sharing activist content. I started my own account a while later and treated it as a complement to my regular fight for justice for adoptees and first families. As a challenge, I also decided to illustrate every post with a descriptive, one-panel comic, which I hoped would draw more attention to the themes I was writing about.
As a transracial adoptee growing up in a predominantly white family and community, writing about adoption also meant writing about issues of racism, discrimination and lack of accurate and diverse representation of people who look like me. Over the years I’d noted that it is particularly hard to write about racism against East Asians, since a lot of people either don’t acknowledge that we suffer from racist abuse at all or think that the racism is rather positive and on a more comic level.
When COVID-19 started spreading and violent hate crimes against Asians shot up, I felt the need to include it in my regular posting and started making drawings that commented on what was going on.
How does this work link to our February Magazine theme, Covid Refigurations?
Many of those who have commented on the high number of hate crimes against Asians in the times of COVID-19 have treated it as a new phenomenon. But racism against and discrimination of Asians in the political West has a long history that can be seen in historical legislation, imagery and cultural expressions. So for me, it’s been important to illustrate that the wording and iconography used to blame Asians in general, and Chinese people in particular, for the pandemic has a long history that dates back hundreds of years with the idea of the “yellow peril” – the vision of hordes of Asian people taking over the world.
Asians have been compared to vermin, viruses and other types of harmful species for a long time, so when COVID-19 started spreading, these stereotypes quickly resurfaced and became more visible, normalised and acceptable. Chinese people and Asians weren’t suddenly blamed for things they aren’t responsible for; it only became more acceptable to say it out loud. During my residency, I will repost the images and captions I’ve created over the past two years that highlight some of the abuse Asians have suffered from during the pandemic.
A portrait of the author
Richey WyverWhat gives you hope?
Activism! When people come together to fight for social justice and human rights. Even when it’s hard to create actual political change or get politicians and legislators to hear you, the sense of community and shared experiences can be enough to make life easier. You feel less alone, and you know that there is support and solidarity.
Creative communities also give me hope, especially those that bring together people who wouldn’t normally see themselves as creative, but who, when given a safe space, create the most inspiring pieces.
How can we follow you and your work?
The most up-to-date place to follow me is on Instagram (@chung.woolrim), although I haven’t posted much lately since I’ve been dedicating all my time to my second graphic novel. You can also support my work on Patreon (woolrim) where you can see work in progress and sketches, get access to exclusive previews and other more personal stuff that I don’t post anywhere else.
