Virtual Memories Show 656:
Kayla E
“This has transmuted the pain into something beautiful. It’s given it meaning.”
With her debut graphic novel, PRECIOUS RUBBISH (Fantagraphics), artist and designer Kayla E explores and investigates the trauma of her upbringing, the fragments of her memories, and the process of reintegration. We talk about why comics were the perfect form for this project, how she found her iconography and the postwar children’s comics style for it, what it was like to uncover her memories and get them on the page, how it feels to give her story to her readers, and how she’s learning to respond when her readers share their trauma with her. We get into her comics-roots, what it was like to hit up her comics heroes, how she felt the moment Mark Newgarden told her she had a book on her hands, why Harvard is bad for getting a comics education, how her work as a graphic designer dovetailed with the incredible production of Precious Rubbish. We also discuss her recovery and her conversion experience, why her Bible kinda begins and ends with the Book of Job, her years of worry that she’d turn out as psychopathic as her parents and brother, why the Sopranos is her favorite work of art, what it means to not be loved by one’s parents, and more. Give it a listen! And go read PRECIOUS RUBBISH!
“Years of healing and building a safe life, getting sober, and figuring out how to be a functioning person in the world has made me a better cartoonist.” [not that that was the goal.]
“Being a cartoonist and putting together really meticulous comics helps me design other cartoonists’ work.”
“I’m making work that’s so hideous, I want to spend as little time as possible in the world of this work.”
“Depending on what the idea is, I figure out what form makes the most sense to communicate it, or investigate it.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
Lots of ways to follow The Virtual Memories Show! iTunes, Spotify, BlueSky, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and good ol’ RSS!
About our Guest
Kayla E is a Texas–born artist of Mexican-American descent. She earned her B.A. from Harvard University and is a recipient of a 2023-2024 Princeton Hodder Fellowship. She works as creative director at Fantagraphics and lives in a small town in North Carolina with her wife and two dogs.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at the Bethesda North Marriott on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Kayla by someone else. It’s on my instagram.
