In Facial, the figures find themselves listening to “Minor Feelings” on audiobook while applying face masks and acupuncture. It is at this moment that Yesiyu puts his characters on full display - the large arms, hands, and hairy legs being the main actors displaying a moment of tenderness with each other. Nothing is taken away or hidden in his painterly approach, rather color and ink are applied as a means to show more of what we’ve yet to see.
At its heart, the world that Yesiyu creates shows us what it means to be home - home as a physical space, as a community with others, and in our own bodies. And in these homes, he shows us how to hold space to be one’s full self, to love, to desire, to be understood.