Confronting Cyberbullying
Vivek speaks with Shivani Persad for CBC’s “The Bigger Issue” series about her experience with cyberbullying and how she overcame it.
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press
In fall 2017, writer and musician Vivek Shraya began receiving vivid and haunting hate mail from a stranger. Acclaimed artist Ness Lee brings these letters and Shraya’s responses to them to life in Death Threat, a comic book and a compelling act of resistance.
Using satire and surrealism, Death Threat is an unflinching portrayal of violent harassment from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the target, illustrating the dangers of online accessibility, and the ease with which hatred can be digitally spread.
Death Threat perfectly expresses the feeling of being exposed to the hurtful and threatening presumptions of strangers. Vivek Shraya and Ness Lee transform a hideous and constrictive mindset into beauty and love.
That Vivek shares her life so openly is an inspiration to many but is not without costs. I’m so grateful for her voice. It feels like a natural fit for comics.
Death Threat is fearless and ambitious. I have no idea where Vivek will go next, but we should all be very excited to follow her there.
If Death Threat was inspired by a letter of hate, the final product that Vivek Shraya and Ness Lee have assembled is a love letter to members of the queer community touched by intolerance.
Vivek speaks with Shivani Persad for CBC’s “The Bigger Issue” series about her experience with cyberbullying and how she overcame it.