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New graphic novel by illustrator Elisa Macellari tells the fascinating story of cult artist Yayoi Kusama

Deemed as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan, Yayoi Kusama is often called the "princess of polka dots" with her dot-covered artworks gaining cult status around the world. But despite her fame, not many know of her story, until now.

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All images courtesy of the artist and publisher

All images courtesy of the artist and publisher

Kusama: The Graphic Novel is the first, you guessed it, graphic novel on Kusama, illustrated by Elisa Macellari, a Thai-Italian illustrator whose clients include The New York Times, Women's Health, and Cartoon Network.

Through Elisa's beautiful and vivid drawings, we follow Kusama's incredible journey from rural Japan to becoming an international icon. We learn more of her bold departure from her home country as a young artist, her embrace of the buzzing New York art scene in the 1960s, and her eventual return home and rise to twenty-first-century super-fame. On hoping to leave Japan, Kusama in the book says, "Mother, father, I'd like to go to the United States"... To which they reply, "If you do, you won't set foot in this house again".

Elisa renders Kusama's fascinating life in a unique graphic style, offering a new way to look at one of the best-known and most intriguing artists of our time. Kusama follows Elisa's first graphic novel, Papaya Salad, which was published in 2018 and told the story of her Thai great-uncle, Sompong, who found himself in Europe on military scholarship on the eve of World War II.

Kusama: The Graphic Novel by Elisa Macellari is published by Laurence King and will be available from September 2020. In the meantime, discover more of Elisa's work at elisamacellari.com.

A page from Kusama: The Graphic Novel by Elisa Macellari showing six panels depicting scenes from Yayoi Kusama's life in muted colours and simple line art style
Two figures stand amid countless red polka dots filling a gallery space in Elisa Macellari's illustration from Kusama: The Graphic Novel
Two pages from Kusama: The Graphic Novel by Elisa Macellari showing a young woman against a red patterned background on the left, and the same figure in a desert landscape with buildings on the right
Three coral-textured silhouettes from Elisa Macellari's graphic novel about Yayoi Kusama, depicting her life journey with figures in red clothing against a white background
Two pages from Kusama: The Graphic Novel showing illustrated comic panels of Yayoi Kusama among red polka dots, and pink line drawings of sculptural flower and plant-like forms
Panels from Kusama: The Graphic Novel showing illustrated scenes of Yayoi Kusama surrounded by red flowers and polka dot motifs, with her distinctive black bob haircut featured prominently throughout
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