Emma Jon-Michael Frank: Venting Through Childish Drawings

Many children often use crayons or quick sketches as a way to process heavy emotions. These are often to sort through emotions and situations they are unfamiliar with and are trying their best to manage. But the need for emotional regulation techniques does not stop at childhood. It is a constant process, growing forever heavier with age and increased responsibility. And while adults still have to navigate similar emotional landscapes, we do it with even greater concerns, from loan repayments to taxes.

US-based artist Em Frank asks, “Why have adults stopped making quick chicken-scratch crayon drawings to help them navigate their emotions?” 

To answer this question, Em Frank has created a body of work in children’s crayon drawing style. They are profound explorations into all the issues that trouble adults. Their pieces have a journal-like quality to them, capturing fleeting yet strong emotions to help themselves and their viewers navigate complex landscapes. Through this process, their work supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Good Health and Well-Being. 

The pieces in this collection typically consist of their sense of portrait—a figure with long brown hair, round eyes, and stubby limbs—along with texts that reflect the state of mind they are trying to process with the piece. Sometimes these pieces also include other figures—the people within their lives or a visual manifestation of their consciousness and inner critic.

These drawings often also offer a humorous take on people’s internal narratives, a method that allows both Em Frank and their viewers to take a step back from their thoughts and emotions and make an objective observation. This is a process clearly communicated in their piece, “Why do I think whoever doesn’t seem to like me is my last chance at feeling a sense of belonging in this world?” The central question spurs more: isn't this thought process strange? Why do we give so much weight to what others may or may not think? Viewers are encouraged to break down the senselessness of their own self-conscious thoughts.

To reach an even wider audience, Em Frank has also been publishing their work as books. Their pieces from 2019 to 2022 have been gathered together and published in a book titled I Am Trying To Love You. In 2023, they published a comic book titled I Never Found You, and have since published more.

Unlike their usual pieces, I Never Found You is a narrative comic book that follows the story of Egbert, a queer bird-watcher who encounters something terrible in the woods.

I Never Found You may have a narrative story, but it’s still an Emma Jon-Michael Frank piece, boasting their easy-to-recognize art style and poetic, profound explorations of our inner psyche.

Em Frank’s unconventional art style offers a new approach to emotional processing methods. Their drawings, appearing similar to youthful sketches, help viewers to reconnect with their inner child and confront complex real-world situations with creativity and humour, promoting mental health and self-reflection.