CCWF’s Mother Hen cackles
Artist Joanlisa Red Cloud-Featherston on her journey to being published while beating cancer for the sixth time
Artist and storyteller, Joanlisa Red Cloud-Featherston draws an indelible portrait of life inside prison, using her nom de guerre “Mama Hen.”
Her work appears in several publications, most notably in the avant-garde zine ABO Comix, which is dedicated to bringing community and light to queer prison populations that are often divided by race, gender, and fear.
The following interview has been edited for brevity.
Q. Why do you draw yourself as a chicken?
A. That started during a noisy dayroom when a male officer said we “sounded like a bunch of cackling hens.” And over the years I guess I’ve adopted some younger women in here. I try to watch over them like a mother hen. My editor at ABO thought “Mama Hen” suits me.
Q. How did you connect with ABO Comix managing editor Casper Cendre?
A. I submitted some art to the San Francisco-based LGBTQ+ magazine Black and Pink. They suggested to Casper that my art and style was a good fit for his annual anthology of graphic art and prose created by prisoners who identify as queer, bi-gender, and trans.
We got together, talked, and that turned into a graphic strip about life here at CCWF titled “In the Hen House.” That was back for the third zine. The ninth was published late in 2025, and I’m still at it.
Q. You have stated that you’ve beaten cancer six times including recently undergoing a double mastectomy. How are you doing these days?
A. I’m still undergoing chemotherapy with meds, while waiting for reconstructive breast surgery. This time around has been a rough ride. It is always an emotional as well as physical struggle. Misunderstanding people don’t really get just how hard it is day to day.
A former roomie pestered me about that saying, [chemo, radiation treatment] can’t be that bad.” Uhmm, yes, it is that bad. This has been a really long battle. Cancer runs in my family.
My grandmother and mother died from cancer. I have children I want to see again. I have grandchildren and great grandchildren I want to see someday. My youngest daughter has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I don’t want her to go through what I’ve gone through by herself.
Q. In your most recent “In the Hen House” strip, you decided to have Mama Hen show and tell in sometimes vivid, raw detail what your last bout with cancer was like. Why such a personal and often private subject in a comic?
A. I want people to be aware of what it means to go through all the medical procedures. Back in 2018, medical and mental health staff did not always understand my generational history as being a major contributing factor to what I was going through. It has at times been a pretty lonely journey.
My strip, I hope, describes how difficult this experience has been, being in prison for 41 years while dealing with the procedures I drew. Yet I’ve survived all that. I’m still here.
If I can do this, maybe others will see that they can get through their own cancer challenges while being in this place.
Q. ABO Comix has called their 2026 anthology their 10th and likely last edition. Will we see another “In the Hen House” for that one?
A. I think so. Mama Hen has more stories to tell. We’ve been considering doing a graphic zine just about my life and times here at CCWF.
We’ve also thought about a cookbook about recipes that can be done while inside. That would be fun for Mama Hen. No chicken dishes, though.
