MoCCA 2024 Application
Yao Xiao is a writer and artist based in New York City. She is the author of graphic novel Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Catapult, Lit Hub, and Autostraddle. She is working on a graphic memoir about coming to America as a teenage exchange student. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College.
Books and Zines to be Exhibited At MoCCA Fest 2024:
Book
Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid (2020)
This one-of-a-kind graphic novel explores the poetics of searching for connection, belonging, and identity through the fictional life of a young, queer immigrant. Inspired by the creator's own experiences as a queer, China-born illustrator living in the United States, Everything Is Beautiful, and I'm Not Afraid has an undeniable memoir quality to its recollection and thought-provoking accounts of what it's like to navigate the complexities of seeking belonging—mentally and geographically.
Zines
Alien Sketchbook product page at Wing On Wo
A zine about language, immigration, and art. A teenager who doesn’t speak English well makes friends and expresses herself through sketchbook drawings.
Drawing Grief online version
In 2020, grieving the loss of normalcy and grieving the loss of time with family in China motivated me to draw the shape of grief. Originally published on Catapult in 2020. It will be printed as a zine for MoCCA Fest.
No Word Island work-in-progress
<What can’t you express in English?> No Word Island is a comic that challenges the convention of how non-English words are depicted in immigrant comics, and explores the limit of language and the power of visual imagination.
Toxic work-in-progress
A woman jumps into a pool of toxic waste in L.A. and the world changes forever.
Select Prints
New York Summer Bingo Link on The New Yorker
New York vs. L.A. Link on The New Yorker | Link on Etsy
Best Friends Do Everything Together Link on Etsy
