Riri Franklin
Pronouns: They/them
Age: 25
Lives in: San Diego
Instagram: @alienby.comics
Twitter/Tumblr: @alienbycomics
Q: Tell us what it’s like living in America today as an LGBTQ+ artist and how it is impacting your life and your work.
A: My name is Riri Franklin and I make short comics about being a transfemme nonbinary person. I grew up in a conservative part of Southern California in a private religious school that was adamantly anti-LGBTQIA+ and even put some of my friends through conversion therapy. Because of this environment, it’s taken me years to unravel my religious trauma, get in touch with my true self, and find the courage to come out. I’m currently living in North County and came out as nonbinary a couple of years ago.
Riri Franklin, who is non-binary, is a graphic and comics artist who makes comics about being trans, neurodivergent, and exvangelicals. Franklin is shown here at their home in Poway.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
While San Diego is one of the more progressive and accepting cities in the U.S., I still often deal with feeling out of place in public, and strangers stare at me very often. I’ve been laughed at, catcalled, heckled in bathrooms, and photographed without my permission. Nonbinary trans people like me often stand out in a crowd because we don’t easily fit into people’s presuppositions and categories that they constantly place others into. These challenges often leave me without energy to make my art. But I always have plenty of experiences to make comics about!
It’s no secret that the sociopolitical climate in the U.S. has been very hostile toward trans people. We are exhausted, overwhelmed, numb and desperate for hope that things will be OK. Because of this, a lot of queer art and content I see expresses rage and mourning — and rightfully so. But I want my art to express the beauty of transness, the joy of finding yourself and living authentically despite all the hardships of being marginalized. I hope my art gives trans people comfort and joy, and cis people empathy for the trans people in their lives.
Riri Franklin, who is non-binary, is a graphic and comics artist who makes comics about being trans, neurodivergent, and exvangelicals. Franklin is shown here at their home in Poway.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Q: Tell us more about yourself and/or your work.
A: I work as a graphic designer in my day job, and make art in my free time. Alienby Comics (from alien + enby, a nickname for nonbinary people) started as an art project with my therapist as a way to reflect on things that have happened in my life recently or that have been on my mind. My comics embody complex feelings and experiences through a fun fantastical lens, with topics like moments of gender euphoria, awkward encounters with strangers, troubles while buying clothes, reflections on my religious upbringing and imaginary confrontations between me and past or future versions of myself.
Since I started making these comics for my own catharsis, I didn’t know how many people would connect to my story in such personal ways! I’m amazed by how many people have had similar stories and say they feel seen by my art. My comics have become a tool by which other trans people can share their experiences to others in ways they didn’t have the vocabulary to communicate themselves.
An autobiographical comic strip by San Diego graphic artist Riri Franklin.
(Courtesy of Riri Franklin)