Barry Lee is an illustrator, artist, writer and community facilitator based in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee is a creative problem solver that tells meaningful stories using a cast of colorful characters, always with a dash of mindfulness & intention. Their work ranges from editorial illustrations, children’s books to large scale public art installations.
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Introducing Vo
Published 22 days ago • 3 min read
Introducing Vo
Illustrating my first children's book! 📖
An image of the book on my lap. The cover shows an illustration of a young white girl with red hair, Vo, wearing overalls with a flower on it, a yellow shirt and blue sneakers. She is sitting in a wheelchair that is pink and purple as her hands raise up. She is on top of a hill with a path, a tree and a house are in the background as she’s surrounded by a purple orb with stars floating around her. Below her in bold letters “When I Grow Up I Want To Be a Chair” is typed in a large size. Underneath the title, “written by Ryan Rae Harbuck art by Barry Lee” is typed in a smaller size. Two flower characters are by the type as well as a bee character, flying.
When I was approached by Barefoot Books to illustrate Ryan Rae Harbuck's "When I Grow Up I Want to be a Chair," I was struck by the narrative of the story being driven by Disability pride. As an artist who has continuously written about Disability from a lens of personal experience and the journey of self-acceptance being Disabled as an adult, I never really saw that many stories as a child reflecting that same journey to self acceptance, for Disabled kids.
Two illustrations of Vo in her wheelchair.
Creating illustrations for this book allowed me to experiment further with world building and maintaining consistency with a core group of characters. It felt really fun to challenge myself to do this as I am usually asked to create projects that, while rooted in my style, are mostly asked to make "one-off" characters.
A continuous illustration to show the full spread of the book. You see Vo falling from her wheelchair from a paved path on a large hill, where there’s a rock obstructing the path. The spread shows varying stages of her fall as she leaps into the sky, and plants onto the ground looking distressed as her wheelchair tumbles away from her. The hill has a face on it, looking distressed. A flower character and the sun also look distressed, as does Vo who’s landed on the ground with dirt all over her. “As she makes her way back down the humpiest, bumpiest hill, she gets caught on a rock. Vo's wheels dig into the earth like fingers in sand and she flies. She flies past her wheels and the rock, and she also flies far past her defeat... Landing with a crash,” is typed on the hill.
Another challenge was emulating action, especially in the illustrations where Vo is moving her wheelchair. There's a particular scene in the book where she is using her wheelchair to go up a large hill, which took me several rounds and conversations to make sure this was true to how Vo would move in her wheelchair.
When I was little, I often felt that I had to have certain accolades or jobs to be seen as a “valid Disabled person.” A big part of these feelings were based on the narratives around Disabled people that I would witness. I have seen so many stories about Disabled kids often focused on “inspiring” non-Disabled people or stories that tell Disabled kids they can grow up one day be a productive “worker” to be seen as a “justifiable” Disabled member of society. This in turn, made me as a child so subconscious about how I move and act in the world. To be a part of sharing a story that is rich in play and imagination, in relation to Disabled childhood, has been healing for my own younger self.
Another spread, showing Vo's parents, a white bald man with a brown beard carrying a piece of mail wearing a collared shirt, blue pants, black shoes and a pink tie, and a white woman with red hair wearing a yellow shirt, dark teal pants and white shoes carrying a small baby with brown hair, a pink shirt & diapers, looking at Vo embracing her wheelchair who has facial features. A bee is buzzing around as two flowers in the ground look at Vo along with the sun, who is smiling down on everyone.
This book centers a Disabled child, it centers her self discovery and pride for being Disabled. I hope this reaches kids, Disabled or not, and shows them that it’s not shameful to be Disabled. I hope it shows kids that you don’t need to have a high profile job or presence, to be validated as a Disabled person. I hope it encourages play and imagination for Disabled kids, as well as showing kids who aren’t Disabled to consider disability, in their real lives as well as their imaginations.
"When I Grow Up I Want to be a Chair" comes out on April 7th, but it is available for pre-order anywhere you get books. My deepest gratitude to my agent Lara for helping me land this, Ryan Rae Harbuck for her words, as well as Meaghan, Bree and everyone at Barefoot Books! ! Huge thanks too to my loved ones for your encouragement in the process of me making the art for this. I hope this is just the first of many children's books I'll get to illustrate.
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Barry Lee is an illustrator, artist, writer and community facilitator based in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee is a creative problem solver that tells meaningful stories using a cast of colorful characters, always with a dash of mindfulness & intention. Their work ranges from editorial illustrations, children’s books to large scale public art installations.
