Who is Hellxia?

haha am i depressed (you’re american)

My art name is Cat Hellxia (they/them) and I’m an artist in Sacramento, CA. I almost became an accountant, but instead graduated from Sacramento State University with a BA in Studio Art in 2012 and for some reason now work in IT (ain’t that just the way).

Traditional and digital drawing and illustration are my jam. Much of my cute imagery is inspired by constant sadness, frustration, and anger. Most of my work speaks to my experience as a Canadian Chinese American woman living in America. I’m Chinese, but I’m not Chinese. I’m American, but I’m not White. I’m Canadian, but I’m not sorry (lmao). 

It’s nice if you have the privilege to keep politics out of your life, but I don’t have that. My right to make private health decisions for my own body is under constant threat. My right to breathe clean air and drink water unspoiled by corporate pollution is under constant threat. Even “constant threat” is an optimistic phrase, as I know many of our rights are already extinct for some of our fellow human beings. 

My day job is in IT Help Desk supporting non-profits, my volunteer job is supporting 350 Sacramento, and in my spare time I am doing art, making silly skits with my boof, spending time with my two adopted birds, and trying not to lose my mind about the state of the world. 

Contact

Interested in commissions, getting a tattoo of my work, licensing my work for your brand or product, or just saying hi? I’m all ears – send me a message!

 

Random thoughts that paralyze me

  • We need to fight for an equitable society AND a livable planet.
  • The nation-state model and constant push for “progress” and new technology are damaging to our future as a species. 
  • America is an oligarchy where the top 1% are taking away our access to health care, maximizing the cost of living while minimizing wages, polluting our water, creating false scarcity, creating a perpetual system of slave labor by taking away reproductive rights and critical-thought-based education… I have no answers, but the only responses we have now are fight, flight, or maintain systems of slavery in this class war until the planet is unlivable.
  • If you say the wrong gender pronoun, just quickly correct and move on instead of making a big fuss about apologizing and reinforcing a negative emotion around learning new gender pronouns.