Baopu #75: Hitting a Wall

Image description: A character opens a door in a room to find a wall of stone seemingly blocking it; they try to push and shove against it before collapsing onto the ground with their back up against it. In the next panel, they begin to melt backwards into the stone, with only their face and limbs still showing; they float through the stone, emerging on the other side to find they passed through an enormous stone cube many times bigger than the house itself they had been trying to exit.

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Yao Xiao

Yao Xiao is a China-born illustrator based in New York City. Yao Xiao creates artwork depicting a poetic visual world where complex concepts and human emotions are examined, amplified, and given physical form. Her work has helped people all over the globe connect at unique moments, from the celebration of the 20 Year Anniversary of the SXSW Interactive Festival, to the grand release of pop singer Katy Perry's single 'Dark Horse.' She has created deeply emotional and beautiful graphics for editorial print publications, pop music record covers, concert posters and book covers. Yao Xiao's serialized comic Baopu currently runs monthly on Autostraddle. It is an original comic exploring the nuances in searching for identities, connections and friendships through the fictional life of a young, queer emigrant. Baopu stands for 'holding simplicity,' a Taoist ideal of wishing to return to a simpler state. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Etsy or her website.

Yao has written 128 articles for us.

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