Adventures in the Art of Rejection

by Sephora Woldu, Juan Astasio (Illustrator)

Adventures in the Art of Rejection is a visual journey into the rejections of San Francisco-based filmmaker, Sephora Woldu with illustrations by Juan Astasio. From professional rejection, personal rejection, romantic rejection, and self-rejection, Woldu invites readers to tag along with a growing gang of characters from anecdotes along the way. The title is inspired by Erich Fromm’s perennial masterpiece, The Art of Loving. Written in 1956, Fromm challenges the perception that love is something that happens to us (if we’re lucky) as rather something to work towards understanding and practicing in all elements of life, throughout life. Perhaps rejection isn’t just something that happens to us (if we’re unlucky). Adventures in the Art of Rejection is an attempt to see beauty and value in that risk in order to keep trying things.

67 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a zine in a very good way. It was a quick read but I liked her perspective, the construction of the book and the highly effective use of illustration and visual storytelling.

I learned about Sephora Woldu from the Humans of New York Instagram page and her story piqued my interest. I'm happy to have supported this artist in this very small way by purchasing her book and I am excited to explore her work in film. Would recommend.

[Sarah]

Sephora Woldu is featured in a story on the FB group "Humans of New York." Her story ran April 5, 2021, and it is about her penpal relationship with her 2nd grade teacher.