Mon 24 Mar 2014 In: Hall of Fame View at Wayback View at NDHA
A talented trans artist has had a stellar start to his bid for community help to publish his inclusive comic book series Family Portraits. Just a few days in, Aucklander Sam Orchard has already passed the halfway mark in his kickstarter campaign to print the first two issues in the series, and go on a US tour where he can meet his strong American readership and visit comicons. The clever Kiwi has, as he puts it, been drawing since he was a little girl and is passionate about drawing comics that celebrate the lgbti community. He’s spent the past four years drawing the Rooster Tails webcomic, which explores his life as a trans guy with his genderqueer partner Joe. “I love sharing stories about how awesome queer and trans people are. A lot of the time movies and TV shows tell us that not being straight or cis makes us sad or bad. But actually we are amazing,” Orchards says. Now he wants to take the show on the road, and publish his series Family Portraits. It’s full of short comics about Kiwis with a range of different ‘rainbow’ identities. “I really want to share these stories around, because I’m super inspired by them, and I think we need more and more and more stories about our awesomeness,” he says. “I have been really lucky to chat with some amazing Kiwis to create stories that explore a range of topics, like what it was like to be in a gay relationship before law reform, and what it’s like to be a first-generation queer Kiwi from a migrant background”. Family Portraits is the first-of-its-kind in New Zealand as far as he’s aware. Each story is told using a different comic style, taking influences from Calvin and Hobbes, Ant Sang’s Dharma Punks, Superhero comics, and many others. Orchard hopes it will be used to educate, break down barriers, and help people to understand more about lgbti communities. “The first issue of my comic features my ‘Queer 101’ comic guide to sexuality, sex, and gender, it’s a resource that has been used all over the world to help demystify sexuality and gender. But I also think that all of the stories can be used as educational tools, and conversation starters, to help people feel safer about belonging to rainbow communities.” You can join the groundswell of support for Sam Orchard’s Family Portraits project and US tour here Jacqui Stanford - 24th March 2014