Ebony Soy is an illustrative storyteller based in Van Nuys. She has created art for Kwento Comics and is the author of the graphic novel series “Maloles.” Previously having her work only presented in multiple collaborative exhibitions, she now has a solo art exhibition.
In collaboration with the Downtown Fullerton Art Walk, Comic Book Hideout is presenting Soy’s first solo exhibition until Jan. 30 entitled “Spirits Beside Us.”
“Spirits Beside Us” introduces audiences to 12 horror stories — eight of which depict women who stand in alignment with their connecting spirits. This alignment is shown through the form of the spirit and the color of the artwork. The remaining four pieces introduce viewers to the Shrimp Paste Gals — undead figures that are driven by hunger, chaos and reclamation.
“On a personal level, this exhibition is deeply intimate,” Soy wrote in a message to the Daily Titan. “It reflects how I see ancestry, memory, and consequence as things we carry with us every day, shaping how we think and who we become.”
Being influenced by Filipino culture and precolonial belief systems, the works are rooted in Soy’s stories. Using color to tell each pieces’ story helped her to define what they represent.
The color red is meant to represent the underworld, which ties four of the pieces to ancestry, vengeance and transformation. Green is the color of the middleworld — the realm of humans and nature. These four help to represent fertility and balance while also warning the viewer about how the harmony of nature can be broken.
The pieces using the color yellow represent the Shrimp Paste Gals. Soy explains that while yellow usually is tied to joy and happiness, the color in the works depicts rot disguised as the hue’s normal meaning.
“As aswangs, they reclaim power by consuming corrupted spiritual masters, turning stolen knowledge into fuel for justice,” Soy wrote.
Soy was first introduced to Comic Book Hideout in March 2025 through a group art exhibit titled “Viva la Femme.” Later the same year, she debuted her first illustrative book at the store. During the event, she started conversations with the store about the possibility of a solo exhibition.
Mark “Funky” Garcia is the manager of Comic Book Hideout and the curator for the Fullerton Art Walk. He tries to rotate exhibitions every month to give new artists a platform to share their creations. What drew him into working with Soy was the amount of detail she puts into each piece.
“I find her work really, really in-depth, especially when you take the moment to read the passages that go with the artwork,” Garcia said. “The mythology book she did came out… she had that complete that October. That kind of showed me a lot of what this exhibit was going to look like.”
Soy wants viewers to approach the pieces in the exhibition with an open mind toward the deeper meaning of the pieces and the idea explaining the world is more layered than what is presented on the surface.
“‘Spirits Beside Us’ asks people to consider how memory, consequence, and belief move alongside us, even when we choose not to acknowledge them,” Soy wrote. “Whether interpreted spiritually, culturally, or metaphorically, the work invites viewers to reflect on what shapes their actions and values. Nothing stands beside us without reason.”
With the success of “Spirits Beside Us,” Soy is hoping to do more solo exhibitions in the future, striving to create immersive, narrative-driven installations.