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Sunday, September 14, 2025

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Drawing the Crisis: Tony Cha and Liam Lee on the eviction epidemic

CCA Comics students draw stories from the housing crisis. A 48 Hills exclusive series.

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

ART LOOKS The Engage: Comics class at the California College of the Arts is comprised of a diverse collection of students from various majors passionate about making comics that engage the world around them.

This year, they teamed with 48Hills.org and housing activists from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and the Housing Rights Committee to create comics from first person accounts of San Francisco’s housing crisis.

The students met with and interviewed people who are struggling or have struggled to remain in their homes, and then turned these stories into compelling visual narratives. Justin Hall was the professor of the Engage: Comics class, and Peter Glanting was the Teaching Assistant. 

The following comic is by CCA student Tony Cha and Liam Lee. Click on each image to enlarge! (You might have to click twice). See the whole series here

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

48 HIlls: Drawing the Crisis

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

48 Hills: Drawing the Crisis

Liam Lee is from Seoul, South Korea. His major is Interaction Design. He tries to express emotion through art, but it is still hard. He is interested in all kinds of art and believes it has the power to change people and the world. When people express sympathy with Liam’s artwork, he is as happy as if his child is being praised (he doesn’t have a child). He wants to understand people well and make things that help and encourage weak people; this would make him a better person too.

Tommy Cha was born in Fresno, a small town in the middle of California. After studying graphic communication and drawing personal comics, his love for telling stories stretched him towards animation, specifically cinematic visual story-telling. Tommy is currently an animation student at California College of the Arts in Oakland focusing on storyboarding and character animation. Current info on Tommy Cha can be found at www.linkedin.com/in/tommycha and his work at www.tommychastory.weebly.com

Marke B.
Marke B.
Marke Bieschke is the publisher and arts and culture editor of 48 Hills. He co-owns the Stud bar in SoMa. Reach him at marke (at) 48hills.org, follow @supermarke on Twitter.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

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