Work-Life Balance

Aisha Franz is a comic book artist and illustrator living in Berlin. She has published four graphic novels that have been translated into multiple languages and her illustrations have appeared in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Die Zeit Leo, and The New York Times. Her book Shit Is Real was nominated for the Los Angeles Times book Award in 2019. Together with the Berlin-based print studio Colorama she cohosts the residency project Clubhouse.

"The three characters in this vibrant, feverish story endure similar problems: unfulfilling careers, lives that are spiraling out of control and a quirky, uninterested psychologist-for-hire who has left them to handle it all on their own." -The New York Times

"A wise and funny journey through loneliness and confusion." -The Guardian

"Depression and loneliness - and how people cope - are aptly explored through Aisha Franz's often surreal pencil drawings." -The Globe & Mail

"Work-Life Balance remains a funny and pointed satire of modern work culture." -The Comics Journal

"[Work-Life Balance] highlights the lack of separation between digital and analog, as hobbies become jobs, humans become brands, and constant connectivity becomes isolation. Franz's mordant and melancholy graphic novel reveals the irony of 'social' media." -Publishers Weekly

"Although the characters in the book remain unsure of what to strive for professionally, they do find solace in genuine connections with nature, art, and other people - which, Franz suggests, might be the type of self-care worth pursuing." -Winnipeg Free Press

"In an era of social media and virtual meetings, Franz shows how easy it is for our expectations to become misaligned from... reality." -BlogCritics

"Franz shows the hollowness underneath much of the contemporary art scene, both in what passes for great work and in the ways people talk about that work." -Kevin Brown, Solrad