A FAMILY ALBUM
Expressionist family portrait plus seven vignettes drawn 1981/3/9 by Chris Wayan
A series of family shadows--NOT literal, do I make myself clear? But these tensions were there.
WELCOME! A FAMILY SNAPSHOT
My sister Miriel's the Shut-Eye Cutie at the bottom; her big sister Althea is the wary, angry one on the right; our dad is the giant, holding our swooning, dreaming mom, disconnected from reality. And me? I'm the werewolf with twirling radar ears, out on the margin--trying to escape but trapped in the circle.
VIGNETTE 1
A typical day at home. Mama's Boy is sawing his penis off, following the instructions of Puppet Mom, who wanted a girl. She's the mask of niceness stuck on the nose of Octopus Mom, the real power in the family. Sitting on the right is Good Girl, shutting her eyes to it all and smiling hard to be liked, which is working a bit too well: Drooly Grampa, or is it Dad, is starting to grab...
VIGNETTE 2
Daddy is molesting Good Girl, who's in shock. Smiling was supposed to make him Act Nice, wasn't it?
VIGNETTE 3
Cutie gets a gun and starts Fighting Back. So now Men are all Monsters...
VIGNETTE 4
Dad is arguing with Wifey, who suddenly turns Innocent Cubist Sexless, drawing the magic No-No Circle round her. No wonder Drooly Dad climbs on Cutie...
VIGNETTE 5
Feminist Mom solves the Man Problem, and provides the family with Nutritious Protein.
VIGNETTE 6
Is this Angry Mom finally getting a Man where she wants him, or is it one of her daughters who's learned the Dog-Eat-Dog lesson?
VIGNETTE 7
My chilly legacy. I can howl, I can draw nightmares, I can act all horny and outrageous, but...
No matter WHAT I do, the Family Ghost peers in, breathing coldly down my spine...
So far.