Mariko Tamaki

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Mariko Tamaki
Born Toronto, Ontario
Occupation graphic novelist, performance artist
Nationality Canadian
Period 2000s-present
Notable work(s) Skim

Mariko Tamaki is a Canadian artist and writer.[1] Best known for her 2008 graphic novel Skim, she has also published several works of both traditional written fiction and non-fiction.[1]

Life

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she is of mixed Japanese Canadian and Jewish Canadian descent.[2] She studied English literature at McGill University, graduating in 1994,[3] and has worked as a writer and performance artist in Toronto, including with Keith Cole's Cheap Queers[4] and in the performance group Pretty Porky & Pissed Off with Joanne Huffa, Allyson Mitchell, Abi Slone, Tracy Tidgwell and Zoe Whittall.[4]

Writing career

Tamaki published Cover Me in 2000. It is a "poignant story about an adolescent coping with depression".[5] Told in a series of flashbacks, the novel is about a teenager dealing with cutting and feeling like an outsider in school.[5]

Skim, a collaboration with her cousin Jillian Tamaki and published in 2008 by Groundwood Books, is a graphic novel about a teenage girl and her romantic feelings towards her female teacher; the reciprocity of those feelings remains unclear in the text. The other central story is about the suicide of classmate's ex-boyfriend who may have been gay. The text is fundamentally "about living in the moments of wrenching transition ...[and] the conflicting need to belong and desire to resist".[6] Tamaki says she did not set out to "make a statement about queerness and youth": "Skim's in love, and kisses a woman, but heck, she's just a kid. She could go on to kiss many people in her future - some of them might be dudes, who knows? I think Skim is more a statement about youth, and the variety of strange experiences that can encapsulate."[7] According to one reviewer, "the expressionistic fluidity of the black and white illustrations serves the purpose of pages of prose"; there is little plot and spare dialogue.[6] Tamaki writes that artists such as Hergé, Igort and Vittorio Giardino as well as Asian art had an influence on her style but her storytelling was rooted in American comics like Daniel Clowes, Chester Brown, and Will Eisner.[8] Skim was originally developed as a short play for Nightwood Theatre.[9]

Emiko Superstar, Tamaki's second graphic novel and first with illustrator Steve Rolston, is about young woman who feels trapped in her suburban life. It was inspired by performance art and Girlspit, an open mic night event in Montreal.[7] The protagonist is inspired to try performance art after visiting such a space. As one review says, "this is a story about finding oneself, one's voice, and one's true character amidst the trappings of counter-culture fame".[10]

Awards

Skim won an Ignatz Award, a Joe Shuster Award and a Doug Wright Award in 2009, and was a nominee for the "Children's literature (text)" category at the 2008 Governor General's Awards. Tamaki was also awarded an Honour of Distinction by the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, a literary award for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender writers in Canada, in 2012.[11]

Works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Mariko Tamaki". CBC Radio, The Next Chapter, November 12, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Tamaki no fake". NOW, June 30, 2005.
  3. ↑ "As comics become a cultural force, McGill graduates are making their mark". McGill News, June 17, 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Quirky Queers". NOW, June 16, 2005.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Muser, Ilyse (October 2001). "Review of Cover Me". Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 45 (2): 171. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Baxter, Gisele M. (Winter 2009). "The School of Life". Canadian Literature 203: 133–134. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Whittal, Zoe (Fall 2008). "Graphic Scenes". Herizons 22 (2): 37–39. 
  8. ↑ "Skim: Book Review". Kirkus Reviews 76 (23): 18. 12/1/2008. 
  9. ↑ "Skim, a beautiful graphic novel". Xtra!, March 13, 2008.
  10. ↑ Gorman, Michele (March–April 2009). "Getting Graphic:Comic Chick Lit". Library Media Connection 27 (5): 42. 
  11. ↑ "Slideshow: Amber Dawn, Mariko Tamaki win Writers’ Trust LGBT author honours". Quill & Quire, June 27, 2012.

External links

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