Emily Bowen Cohen

Aug 31

Writer and Visual Artist—June through August ’22

Website memberoftwotribes.com | Based In Los Angeles, CA

Q: One of the great benefits of coming to the Peleh Residency is access to a mentor – in your case, the graphic novelist Trina Robbins, whose work on underground comics in 1970s-era San Francisco influenced a generation of artists, especially women.

A: I’ve never had a mentor before, and to start with Trina, who is an icon, was amazing. She pushed me to take advantage of partnerships, and to collaborate with people, especially experts in the fields I’m especially interested in.

Q: As often happens with the residency, there was some serendipity here. Trina worked closely with political artists during a moment when the American Indian movement was gaining steam, with its most dramatic moment taking place on Alcatraz, when a group of activists took it over.

A: When I came up to Berkeley from Los Angeles, I was working mostly on projects related to the American Indian movement. Trina was around in the 1970s when all this was happening. One of the trips I took with Trina was to Alcatraz, after which I got the idea for a character, a young activist named Bettie Warrior, who wanted to protest at Alcatraz, but couldn’t get on a boat. Years later, she tells the story to her nephew, a Native American 12-year-old boy in LA, who wants to protest stereotypical costumes at school during Halloween.

Q: That fits in with another aspect of the Peleh Residency, which is connecting art with family. A signature piece of Peleh is bringing families, especially children, into the artistic experience, instead of forcing artists/parents to separate themselves while creating.

A: At the salon the residency hosted, I showed my work in progress. On the wall were my sketches and art my kids created in response.

Q: Can you say a word about your new TV project?

A: During the residency I worked on adapting the book “I Will,” by Sheron Wyant-Leonard, for a new TV series about Leonard Peltier and other Native activists. One of my growth areas during the residency was developing the confidence to more fully step out of my own identity, and develop characters who are quite different from me. One example is an FBI agent involved in the takeover of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973. I found a speech he gave at a Rotary club, which gave me an idea of what he looked and sounded like.

Q: You collaborated with your mentor, Trina, on a new anthology, “Won’t Back Down,” which will be out soon. This collection is in response to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

A: I started working on a comic about a Golem and a mikvah – a traditional ritual where Jewish women submerge in water for purposes of “purification.” This was a new kind of Jewish story for me, a kind of horror story. It turns out that in biblical Hebrew, the word “golem” means “embryo.” Some devout women may go to the mikveh hoping for a pregnancy. In my comic, “Plan B,” I wanted to raise the point that laws taking away reproductive rights can have monstrous results.

Q: You were also able to put the finishing touches on a major project during the residency, correct?

A: Yes! In August of 2023 the graphic novel “Two Tribes” will come out. While some of my work focuses on my Jewish identity, and some on the Native American side, this project brings them together.

Emily Bowen Cohen is a writer and visual artist. Her graphic novel, Two Tribes, will be published June 2023 by Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins. Emily’s background informs her passion for creating complicated Indigenous characters. She is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and grew up in rural Oklahoma. Her father was the Chief of Staff at their tribal hospital and her mother is a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey. After her father’s early death, she was separated from her Native family. A decade later, she returned to Oklahoma for a bittersweet homecoming. She’s been writing and drawing stories about the weirdness of being Indigenous in America ever since.