Aurélia Aurita is the pseudonym of French comics artist Hakchenda (Chenda) Khun, of Chinese and Khmer origin, who grew up in Châtenay-Malabry, a southern suburb of Paris. Her unusual pseudonym is taken from Aurelia aurita, the scientific name of the moon jellyfish. She studied drawing at the École Arc en Ciel in Antony while simultaneously studying pharmacy. During this period she published short stories in Fluide Glacial, PLG and various collective albums, and in 2001 won the prize for best scenario in the Alph’Art competition for school comics at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Her first collection of graphic stories, Angora, featured a young woman negotiating love, sex and relationships through a series of short, often whimsical and dreamlike episodes. An extended stay in Japan in the early 2000s was a formative experience, and in 2005 Aurita was invited to contribute to Japon, a collective album about the country. She was sufficiently captivated by Tokyo to return there, and it was during this period that she began drawing Fraise et Chocolat. Published in 2006, this intensely personal account of her relationship with fellow French comics artist Frédéric Boilet made her the subject of intense and often intrusive media interest.

Fraise et Chocolat was notable both for its explicit exploration of an intimate relationship and for being by a woman at a time when erotic comics were dominated by male artists. Her deliberately loose and apparently spontaneous drawing style reinforced the sense of an intimate diary, while humour and self-caricature redeemed the book from becoming simply a confessional.

Fraise et Chocolat 2 followed in 2007, after which Aurita continued to explore autobiography, identity, art and everyday experience in works including Je ne verrai pas Okinawa (I Won’t Get to See Okinawa) and Buzz-moi, a witty autobiographical account of the media frenzy surrounding Fraise et Chocolat and the unexpected celebrity it brought. Her later work has ranged widely, including collaborations with other writers and in 2022 the prize-winning La vie gourmande (The Gourmet Life).

Aurélia Aurita’s website can be found here (in French), with details of all her current work.

Similar artists

Caroline Sury – French comics artist of raw autobiographical narrative.
Giovanna Casotto – Italian comics artist of autobiographical erotic narrative.
Marion Fayolle – French cartoonist of intimate, spontaneously drawn relationship narratives.
Robert Crumb – American underground-comix artist whose work turned candidly autobiographical.
Melinda Gebbie – American underground-comix artist of feminist erotic content.
Colleen Coover – American cartoonist of playful, collaborative relationship comics.