Virtual Memories Show 442:
Weng Pixin / Pix
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“Art has always been a place for me to express things that — well, here in Singapore we don’t have a very healthy relationship with the expression of anger.”
With her gorgeous new graphic memoir, Let’s Not Talk Anymore (Drawn & Quarterly), artist Weng Pixin (a.k.a. Pix) explores 5 generations of women in her family, from each one’s perspective at the age of 15. We got together to talk about how Pix built a multigenerational history of her family through silences, how she reverse-engineered her way into making comics, the challenges of growing up in an emotionally repressed environment and figuring out how to make art out of it, and how Singapore’s money-driven culture makes it difficult to build art communities. We get her history in the arts, the female cartoonists in Buenos Aires who changed her life, what she’s learned from teaching art to kids, whether it’s good to post in-progress art online, how cleaning up her Dropbox folder made her realize she had built a body of work in comics (leading to her first collection, Sweet Time), whether her mother is going to read her new book, and more! Give it a listen! And go read Let’s Not Talk Anymore!
“As a creator, I thought, ‘If this is the likely scenario my mother came from, how can I expect her to communicate herself?'”
“For women, across the generations, we come from a bad upbringing, where we’re told not to stand out, not to express an opinion.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Weng Pixin (or Pix for short) was born and raised in sunny Singapore. She loves to draw, sew, make comics, tell stories, paint, create and construct using found objects. Pixin grew up listening to stories from her father, who was curious about the way the world works. In turn, when it comes to her art, Pixin loves to create semi-autobiographical comics that reflect her curious nature too. Her new book is Let’s Not Talk Anymore, from Drawn & Quarterly.
Follow Pix on Instagram.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely via Zencastr. I used a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone
