Jesse Červenka Lambert

It’s become a tradition of mine to do a new IG intro on New Years. Here’s a childhood photo of me on the stoop of a brownstone, a few doors down from the Sullivan Institute. Swipe thru for a more recent photo of me picking blueberries in VT. I am an artist based in Jackson Heights who makes nonfiction comics. My comics focus on a variety of subjects: art, history, public health, travel, and my unconventional childhood. They often have an auto-bio element, personal perspective or reflection. My main in-progress project is a book length graphic novel memoir about growing up in a NYC-based communist psychotherapy cult known as the “Sullivanians.” Some years ago, I got involved in a documentary by @seethinkfilms (not out yet) about the cult which was known for its excessive control over members’ personal lives and its controversial child raising practices. As a result of cult therapy I was sent to boarding school in New Hampshire at age 4. In the process of being filmed for the doc I did a lot of thinking about the past and realized that I had a strong desire to tell my childhood story myself, with the tools I have: writing and drawing. Seeing the first episode of the docuseries screened at the Tribeca Film Festival this past June was an emotional experience. Over the summer, with the doc and a new book about the group that came out, there was a flurry of articles and book reviews about the cult. Too often these stories are sensationalist and objectifying. Reading them only reaffirmed how import I feel first-person narratives are for telling cult stories. Memoir has the unique ability to center the subjective experience and dignity of survivors. So far on this journey of comics making I have felt very lucky to be included in @paperrobyn ’s American Cult comics anthology, @graphicmundi ’s COVID Chronicles anthology, to publish in @hyperallergic and to table at so many amazing indie comics festivals. Going into the new year I will be working on some new short stories and continue the great slog of working on my longer graphic memoir. I have some projects and panels coming up I am excited to share with you! Thanks for following along and Happy New Year!

I am honored to have a new comic published on @hyperallergic Read it at the link in my bio. I poured my whole heart into this one. Today is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day which commemorates the 1.5 million victims of the 1915-23 genocide. The comic is about the painter Arshile Gorky who survived the genocide, cultural erasure, and the neglected Armenian Genocide memorial at Union Square which Gorky’s studio would have overlooked. Remembering continues to be so important today after the genocidal ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh last September, the ongoing cultural erasure of Armenian’s presence from their ancestral lands, and the continuing threats to Armenia’s sovereignty from Azerbaijan. Respect to the survivors. Յարգանք վերապրողներուն։ Thank you @hragv and everyone at Hyperallergic @laxmiamin17 @hakimbishara and @elainevelie

Had a great time at @bicsbrooklyn ! Thank you @yelsnyaleonardis and @stmarkscomics and all the volunteers for making it happen. Swipe to second slide for my haul!

So psyched for @bicsbrooklyn coming up this weekend! Working on some new zines that excerpt a part of chapter 3 of my in progress graphic memoir about growing up in the communist psychotherapy cult known as the Sullivanians (we didn’t call ourselves that). This excerpt focuses on my experience of being in cult therapy as a child (dream analysis gets twisted) and processing that later as an adult in legitimate therapy. Am I crazy to handcut these? Maybe. Still a ways to go. Stop by table 215 on the red show floor at @bicsbrooklyn to say hi and pick up a a copy!

Thrilled to be coming back to @bicsbrooklyn for a fourth year! Stop by table 215 on the red show floor and say hi!

I’m excited to announce that I’m a 2026 Queens Arts Fund recipient! This project-based grant will enable me to complete a comic on the life of Lewis Latimer (1848–1928) and his historic house located in Flushing Queens. Latimer was an African American inventor, draftsman, and engineer who made important contributions to science and technology. He worked with Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison and made crucial improvements to early light bulbs and the telephone. This comic is the second in a series of comics that I am making about historic houses in Queens, NYC. The grant also supports a zine-making workshop that I will lead at @lewislatimerhouse coming this October! Visit nyfa.org/news for details, and follow #QAF2026 for details on when and where you can experience the arts in Queens this calendar year! Thank you @nyfacurrent and @nyculture for supporting my work and for helping to bring the arts to neighborhoods across Queens!

Tuesday, February 17th @artretailtherapy is having a comics drawing meetup from 7-8:30pm. Come hang out and draw with fellow cartoonists. I’ll be there, see you!

Art Retail Therapy
84-26 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

#ComicsMeetup #QueensNYComicsMeetup #QueensComicsMeetup #JacksonHeightsNY #ComicsMeetupNYC

At City Lore @city_lore Wednesday, Jan 14th, from 6:30-8:30pm Clayton Patterson @claytonles will be in conversation with Julian Voloj @julianvoloj the author of “Clayton: Godfather of Lower East Side Documentary.” The graphic novel biography illustrated by eighteen artists, tells the story of this iconic artist intertwined with the rich history of the Lower East Side over the last forty-five years. Contributing artists Maegan Dolan @maegadeath and Jesse Lambert will also join the conversation. Legendary photographer and videographer Clayton Patterson has documented the often-overlooked people and cultural contributions of New York’s Lower East Side. Best known for his documentation of the Tompkins Square Police Riots in 1988, Clayton lived at the intersection of numerous underground cultures, from drag queens to punks, outlaws to tattoo artists, breathing in the same creative energy that gave life to many New York icons. This event is organized in tandem with City Lore’s current exhibition, Concrete Chronicles: Lower East Side Photos by Martha Cooper and Clayton Patterson, on view through February 1, 2026. Space is limited, so please RSVP! /e/1979313329450?aff=oddtdtcreator ***Second slide shows one of the pages I contributed to the biography—one of the first comics pages I ever drew way back in 2017***

This collaboration between @n_o_a_h_fischer @mrcplcraig and I is our contribution to the Fall of Freedom initiative. @falloffreedom It just went live on @hyperallergic You can read it at the link in my bio or see below. It was a pleasure to make something with two talented artists like Noah and CM. This piece is also included in physical form in “Cancel This Show” opening tonight, Friday the 21st, at @theclemente up through Dec 20th. /1058708/how-did-we-get-here/ #falloffreedom #hyperallergic #theclemente

Just finished a wonderful collaboration with artists Craig Campbell and Jesse Lambert. Never worked with them before, but in a very short amount of time we pulled together this conversation-as-comic, our addition to the Fall of Freedom initiative. You can see this piece at an opening tomorrow, Friday the 21st at the Clemente as part of Cancel this Show, and it will also run on Hyperallergic.

Very excited to have a collaborative piece with @n_o_a_h_fischer and @mrcplcraig at @theclemente opening tomorrow. Stop by if you’re around! The show is up until Dec 20. ✨Bringing together works by Todd Ayoung, Zoe Beloff, Jim Costanzo, Molly Crabapple, Yevgeniy Fiks, Noah Fischer with Jesse Lambert and CM Campbell, Kiyo Gutierrez, Theodore A. Harris, Jerry Kearns, Josh MacPhee, Julian Louis Phillips, Jenny Polak, Shellyne Rodriguez, Dread Scott, and Seth Tobocman in a collective response towards uplifting and protecting free expression 🗣️.

Curated by Olga Kopenkina and Gregory Sholette, the exhibition invites artists to reclaim their role as social critics through anger, humor, and parody at a time when dissenting voices increasingly face repression.
The works address xenophobia, racism, urban militarization, classism, queerphobia, and threats to democratic institutions, drawing inspiration from historic activist exhibitions such as Angry Arts Week (1967) and Artists Call (1984).

Part of Fall of Freedom, a broader initiative exploring today’s challenges to democratic freedoms.
Open on the 4th floor at The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street, no appointment needed ✨

#CancelThisShow #TheClemente #FallOfFreedom #ArtAsResistance #CulturalDialogue #ArtForJustice

Thursday, November 20th @artretailtherapy is having a comics drawing meetup from 7-8:30pm. Come hang out and draw with fellow cartoonists. I’ll be there, see you! Art Retail Therapy 84-26 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372 #ComicsMeetup #QueensNYComicsMeetup #QueensComicsMeetup #JacksonHeightsNY #JacksonHeightsComics #ComicsMeetupNYC