Comic: How Salvadorans connect over their complicated relationship with their homeland

Illustration of two women shopping

(Julia Mata / For De Los)

By Julia Mata

Sept. 8, 2023 4:50 PM PT

This comic is for the diaspora Salvis and navigating our complicated relationship with our familial homelands.

I was at a party the other day ...

It was a bunch of Salvis, and tell me why, we're all having a good time ...

Then we all get triggered and all of a sudden we're talking about our war trauma.

You all do love to do that.

Sometimes it feels like once somebody gets started, I have all this shit in me that I need to talk about.

But then I'm also like how did we get here? We were having such a good time.

And then the S.S.D. hits. For your information, that's a "serious Salvadorian discussion."

I honestly don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

Well, I mean this is just my opinion, but that's some generational processing, maybe it just needs to happen?

Yeah, maybe ...

Julia Mata is a comic book author from Southern California with familial roots in Central America and the Eastern European Jewish Pale of Settlement. In her drawings and stories she centers nuanced narratives with space for joy, beauty and emotional growth.

More to Read

More From the Los Angeles Times