Sarc is a short comic I did to try and communicate my experiences late in 2019 when I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. I wanted to convey some of the medical journey but also my personal experiences and the impact on those around me. The comic is deliberately left open ended because diagnosis for many is just the start of a journey, especially with chronic illnesses. I (Cole Henley) am a web developer, illustrator and recovering archaeologist from Somerset. You can find out more about me over on my website: https://cole007.net/
Spotlight: Shame Spiral
guest post by Juanita Navarro-Páez, PhD student (she/her/hers) The Shame and Medicine Project and The Shame Conversation have been collaborating with Charlotte Wu on a project to produce graphic medicine resources designed to teach medical learners about the impact of shame and other emotions in healthcare, medical learning, and clinical experience. Shame Spiral, created in collaboration with artist Hannah Mumby, is the first comic to come out as a result of this project. Shame is a normal but powerful emotion that, taken to an extreme, can lead medical learners to experience emotional distress, impaired empathy, social isolation, and engage in… Read More
Spotlight: Dori Seda’s Hospital Hell and Other Works Discussed in The Comics Journal
Article by Edward Dorey Dori Seda was a prolific cartoonist in the Reagan era, crafting short comics for Wimmen’s Comix, Weirdo, Tits and Clits, and her own anthology collection Lonely Nights Comics before her death at 37 in 1988. Most academics focus on how Seda’s open displays of sexuality challenged the rise of conservatism in the eighties, for Seda’s work often dealt with topics such as BDSM, the ethics of swinging, and the seedier parts of raising a dog. However, Seda’s short science-fiction story “Hospital Hell!!” is a long-form critique of the Reagan administration’s economic policies, hypothesizing what a perpetual… Read More
Spotlight: Cadaver Diaries, A Memoir
Guest post by Kriota Willberg. Kriota was the inaugural Artist In Residence at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. Now, she is an AIR and teaches graphic medicine at NYU’s Master Scholars Program of Humanistic Medicine. Find her on Twitter (@Kriota) and/or on her blog. CADAVER DIARIES, A MEMOIR (Trigger Warning: contains depiction of dissected cadavers.) I teach a drawing class to med students, hospital faculty, and staff through the Master Scholars Program in Humanistic Medicine at the Grossman School of Medicine, NYU. For me, the lab and these classes are a treasure trove of bioethical, artistic, and anatomical… Read More
Spotlight: Savita Rani
Guest Post by Savita Rani Savita Rani is a physician by training and artist by spirit. She is a Desi woman and a first-generation immigrant settler in Canada. She is a resident physician in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, and also has a Master of Public Health from Queen’s University. She has a special interest in bringing arts and humanities into medical education and public health as tools for practice, teaching, learning and reflection. Her poetry, writing and artwork have been published in international health humanities journals including Ars Medica, Pulse, and Intima: a Journal of Narrative Medicine. The content of my Graphic Medicine work started out describing and working through challenges and struggles… Read More
Spotlight on Theo Phizza – Notes from the Asylum #1
Guest Post by Theo Phizza Following redundancy from a company at which I had worked for 22 years I was admitted to a mental health facility (“the Facility”) at the beginning of 2020 to be treated for generalised anxiety disorder (“GAD”) partly triggered by the redundancy situation. I first saw a Psychiatric Consultant in December 2019 who advised me that in-patient treatment would probably be best for me. It later turned out he had been a Psychiatric Advisor on a series of Big Brother. This seemed to me to be a possible cause of confusion as this Cartoon shows…. Read More
Spotlight Archive
Our “Spotlight” program was developed to feature new projects, books, research, and artists of note to the Graphic Medicine international community. If you’d like to be featured in a Spotlight, click here for more information. The most recent features appear first. Spotlight: Sarc, by Cole Henley Spotlight: David Milgrim Spotlight: The Eel and The Blowfish Spotlight: Goda Trakumaite Spotlight: The Minimata Story: An EcoTragedy Spotlight: Dori Seda’s Hospital Hell and Other Works Discussed in The Comics Journal Spotlight: Shame Spiral SPECTRUM – A Cartoon (mostly) about Neurodivergence and Queerness Spotlight: Jill Greenbaum Spotlight: Broccoli for Breast Cancer Spotlight: Fitting In… Read More
Spotlight: EXAM ROOM Volume One: Anatomy Lab Zine by Drexel Medical Students
EXAM ROOM Volume One: Anatomy Lab is a comics zine drawn and written by second year Drexel College of Medical Students in Philadelphia, in the Fall of 2019. Working in a Graphic Medicine seminar with Artist in Residence Emily Steinberg, MFA, students Prachi Anshu, Andrew DiMatteo, Marc Hem Lee, Joshua Lucas and Luke Wakeen drew from their personal experience working with cadavers in the Anatomy Lab, creating an extraordinarily thoughtful collection of stories. Download full zine here.