Filthyratbag: A Journey Through Growing Up, Grieving & Turning Pain Into Diamonds

The artist known as Filthyratbag aims for the heart in this illustrated memoir on grief and Gen Z girlhood, shot through with equal parts incredulity and longing

Celeste Mountjoy makes art that explores anxiety, feminism, addiction, body image, relationships, and power. With uncanny precision, it articulates the dark stuff we feel but dare not show. Mountjoy has become a voice for a generation of women who are ambivalent about the absurd, sometimes harrowing, path to adulthood. In her debut book, she tells razor-sharp stories and shares never-before-seen illustrations that walk us through the twistiest parts of growing up, from encountering creepy old men and dealing with grief to getting really drunk and existential. Filthyratbag is at once a primal scream, a shrug, and a PSA declaring that even though growing up is brutal, there are always more beautiful things to come.


About the Author
Celeste Mountjoy is a Melbourne-based artist, writer, and creator of Filthyratbag. Since she began posting her art in 2015, Mountjoy has become a voice for a generation of people who are no longer prepared to smile politely at the outrages, uncertainties, and absurdities of life on the path to adulthood. She has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, and on the BBC.