Comics Splurge: Yumi Sakugawa
In which I check out all the works by a cartoonist available at the library!
I first heard of Yumi Sakugawa as an exhibitor at the Autopic comics festival here in Minneapolis back in 2015 and was curious about her work. Her art is simple but full of life, perfect for her surreal but cozy pieces. Calming reading during hectic times, I feel.
Her charming and melancholy comic, I Think I Am in Friend-Love With You, for instance, is a compact but deceptively complex work depicting the conflicting feelings of platonic love. Written from the point of view of a furry cyclops pining for the companionship of a cool robot person, Sakugawa explores a very relatable feeling of reaching adulthood and just not knowing how to kindle friendships. Her combination of endearingly simplistic monster characters and everyday situations like swapping books, drinking tea at a cafe, or texting evoke feelings of loneliness and hope that I think are universal, and I found it hit at a bittersweet note that has stuck with me despite its short length.
Much of Sakugawa’s work has an affirming focus, practical yet ethereal, dealing with tools that can be learned to make existence a little easier. I have to admit to being a bit of a skeptic when it comes to metaphysical self-help, but her advice in such works as Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One With the Universe and There Is No Right Way to Meditate are refreshing and whimsical introductions to imaginative mediation. These works are helpful reminders to take time to reflect on things when so much is demanding your time and attention.
Sakugawa’s intricate yet simple art, whether in black and white or in muted pastels, populated with endearing creatures and cosmic shapes complement her inspirational exercises or “assignments” for self-exploration, and her dreamy hatches and lines make considering her advice a pleasant experience. Featuring such allegorical scenes as settling down to have tea and cake with your demons or having your doppelganger extract your bad mood to make sculptures make amusing ways to picture examining your thoughts and learning acceptance.
All in all, these inclusive exercises for reflecting on your connection to the universe can definitely be helpful in building your “inner peace,” especially in such dark times, when you can feel complacent focusing on such individual needs. After all, Your Illustrated Guide ends with an assignment to create a new space time continuum of transcendence that will bring peace and joy to all sentient beings! Well, that’s certainly something to aim for. There is an expanded and updated version of There is No Right Way to Mediate being published later this month, so I’m curious about what Sakugawa added in light of the increased tension and anxiety in everyone’s lives over the past few years.
Finally, Sakugawa’s Little Book of Life Hacks takes on a variety of simple advice on daily life, featuring affordable and low-tech tricks to help you out from fashion to cleaning to cooking to entertaining, presented in easy diagrams. It’s the kind of stuff you might find online, but it’s a lot more fun to look at than your disorganized bookmarks list. Sakugawa includes a bunch of stuff I would have found very useful in those years when I was first living on my own and dealing with managing my own space.
As a whole, Yumi Sakugawa’s work offers thought-provoking but light forays into life improvements and might help out on one of those days when nothing seems to be working out and you need a little pick-me-up.