‘Tension’: A Comic about Embracing One’s Roots

Writer: Pearl Low / Artst: Pearl Low / Gumroad A year ago I stumbled across the Kick starter campaign for a autobiographical comic by Pearl Low, an Afro-Asian Storyboard Artist currently working in Vancouver, BC. The KS campaign would be the third printing of this comic, and Low wanted to make it available to an international audience. She wrote of the book “Through the lens of an Afro-Asian woman, Tension explores societal ‘norms’ & learning to accept and love one’s own natural curly hair.” While obviously a fan of Black women , all manner of Black women exploring narratives that include wash days and collection of stories about Black hair that could be considered coming of age. I was intrigued by this comic on hair, on a woman embracing her roots and set out to read Pearl Low’s Tension. “Through the lens of an Afro-Asian woman, TENSION explores societal ‘norms’ & learning to accept and love one’s own natural curly hair.”

What I love most about Tension is the immersion into the narrative I had in my reading experience: the story is presented with ease, a slice of life type feel. The comic starts with an older Pearl rising out of bed bemoaning that she will have to do something to her hair, that she will have to put it up. Then in the next pages, we see the younger versions of herself happy and slowly starting to understand that her hair sets her apart from others, that folks have opinions about hair that has a different texture and also how much of that reaction do…