Ah, 2020. How do we even begin with you.
My stay at Elsewhere in June 2020 was after the residency program had shut down for a couple months in response to the COVID pandemic, alongside hundreds of other residency programs around the country, if not the world.
So when I got rescheduled from April to June, a part of me felt like it wouldn’t be wise or fair. Another part of me wanted to get away and focus on something meaningful. Why do creative professionals sometimes feel guilty when they’ve been given time and space to work on a project? At least, I have been, especially during a global pandemic? Not to mention on top of that pandemic, amidst tense social unrest throughout the country. Insert something here about the work having to be incredibly profound or impactful to have meaning. And no, it doesn’t have to be. Creative energy needs to be honored, and the world keeps spinning, pandemic or no.
In an art business class I’ve taken, our mentor often says “artists are the first to be executed and the first to be commissions during times of social upheaval and political revolution. Well, now, let’s not get too hasty.
But these times aren’t normal, as I’m sure we’ve all heard that so often these days. Our collective society needs to bring on a new normal that serves all people, and corrects the inequities that plague People of Color, among many other things. My first week at Elsewhere was spent grappling with the total upending of the prior months. I drove to Paonia, Colorado during the height of the BLM protests. It felt like I was escaping a reality I had no right to escape. I need to be a responsible citizen and member of society after all, and stay informed on all things important!
After writing out all the feels about BLM so I could at least get it out of my system, I settled into a groove to work on my writing project. The reason I was even at Elsewhere in the first place. I was constantly reminding and reassuring myself that it was okay to take a short break from what’s going on. It wasn’t like I was hiding forever. And all kinds of art is more important than ever right now, so I needed to be in the right mindset to bring this to life.
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My graphic novel is a passion project that stemmed from a desire to tell a story that only I could tell. My immigrant bilingual upbringing, and connection to a culture and heritage that often gets conflated with a war narrative that often ignores how it decimated the motherland and its people. I wanted to change the narrative to remind us that immigrants are not always wanting to talk about war, pain, suffering, and loss. There are plenty of rich and fun content in our history worthy of Hollywood blockbusters.
So I combined two mythologies that serve as inspiration for a fantasy adventure told in a medium that inspired and influenced me greatly as a teenager: manga. I didn’t care for American comics (sorry, Marvel). But I was enamored with the dramatic layouts and panels and ink brush work of Japanese manga, and the vast array of genres and topics that could be told in comic form. No topic was off limits in their eyes, whereas comics in America was always considered too niche and nerdy for the masses...until it no longer was (see MCU.)
But I digress.
A Pearl to Burn follows the story of Phaye, the protagonist who discovers she’s the newest Holy Guardian of Fire, Vermillion Bird. And she’s been tasked with the impossible: help the centuries missing Prince Long, also the Azure Dragon, regain his true form by transporting him back to the Sea Kingdom, where fire can’t burn.
Phaye is a rendition of the Vietnamese Fairy Goddess named Âu Cơ, who according to legend, falls in love with Lặc Long Quân, a dragon of the sea. Their love birthed 100 children, who are said to be from whom the Vietnamese people descended. When the calling to return to their original homes became too great, Âu Cơ and Lặc Long Quân parted on good terms, each taking 50 of their children. Âu Cơ returns to the mountains, and Lặc Long Quân to the sea, and thus, the Vietnamese people’s connection to both land and sea is established.
There is a lot of overlap between Chinese and Vietnamese mythology, as you can see. The similarities of creatures between Vietnam’s ancient origin story with the Chinese popular folktale regarding the Four Holy Beasts probably wasn’t a coincidence, and I’m sure there are now plenty of media that was inspired by these myths.
Remember when I said earlier that I wanted to tell a story only I could tell? While I’m using these existing influences heavily, I’m telling a story through Phaye, a young woman who is thrust into this journey to save the land while also discovering who she is in this context. My goal is to have this story not only universal to all groups of people, but to highlight ancient Asian culture so that it may be regarded the way European Medieval times have always been the backdrop for so many American movies, books, comics, tv, etc. I’m drilling down deep to access my own experiences living on this planet as a first generation Asian American woman living in modern times with tools to tell modern stories in modern ways.
As of this writing, my rough draft is about five chapters in. I experimented with writing long hand first so that the whole story could at least exist before the editing phase comes into play. So far, so good.
I had good company while I was figuring out this process. Shout out to Tomatoes (who’s overly affectionate nature visited me every day) and Potatoes (who showed up in the basement studio during my very last week).
Thanks for reading this far if you have. Until next time, Elsewhere. <3