The plump star of a comic strip by UK-based illustrator Kripa Joshi is winning followers across countries
She does not have any superpowers, does not show much inclination in fighting a protracted battle with the evil and she does not wear a costume. But she is still a comic strip hero and she has won many hearts. Miss Moti, created by UK-based illustrator Kripa Joshi, is what is called a plus-sized woman who does not care much about what she is called. She sets out on adventures in clouds and in cities and yearns to be carefree.
Kripa Joshi
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Joshi says that the Asian woman character was born out of her own struggles with body image. "I was always worried about my body while growing up though I was not really fat back then," she says during a Skype interview from the UK. In 2005, she received the Fulbright Scholarship to pursue MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
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Miss Moti and Cotton Candy was one of the early strips
The gem
During this time, she started making comics and developed the character of Miss Moti. Moti, she points out, is an open word in Hindi or Nepali where with a lighter stress on it, means gem. Joshi created the character as a gem of a person with childlike innocence. "There is a sense of innocence in Miss Moti. It is the kind of innocence that my mother's generation had till quite late into their lives in a world that was not globalised and there was no Internet," she explains.
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Happy fight
That, too, explains the fact that though this strip deals with a body problem, there is no apparent sense of anger. Miss Moti is rather lost in her own world dealing with her trials of climbing stairwells and disappearing in the world of cotton candies.
Joshi updates the new series every Monday
After her initial success with the stories, there was a gap when she was suffering from depression and could not work on the strip for a year. Even when she tried to get back to it, she found it very difficult. She then decided put up some work on social media every Monday and returned this January with a series of illustrations titled Miss 'Moti'vation. These have found takers on social media and have been shared widely.
Reaching out
Though her journey began self-publishing the strips, Joshi is now considering ensuring that her work reaches publishers too. "It is a good idea to put your work out there. It's fine to publish it yourself if you have money but in the long run, it can get difficult because you are the person distributing your work as well, and thus the reach is limited," she reasons.
She started Miss ‘Moti’vation in January this year
Joshi is planning a five-story compilation of the series and also a colouring book for children. Though the feedback is largely positive, she has also got some negative feedback in the form of concerns about whether she is encouraging obesity, which is now a major health problem.
"I understand such concerns and I respond to them. Miss Moti is not to encourage obesity but for people to accept their body types. It is about complexes around things like height and colour. I hope Miss Moti helps people to be kinder to themselves,"
she says.
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