Contact: Mita Mahato, graphic.medicine.conference@gmail.com or Meredith Li-Vollmer, 206-255-0659
Cartoonists, Health Professionals, and Patients Convene for Comics & Medicine
Free public events explore health issues through the comics art form
Cartoonists, comics scholars, librarians, patients, and healthcare professionals will convene at the international Comics & Medicine Conference from June 15-17 at Seattle Central Library to discuss the ways in which they are reading and creating comics about health, illness, and caregiving. Much of the conference programming will be free and open to the public, including all three keynote addresses, several panel sessions, and the comics pop-up marketplace, at which more than 30 artists from the Comics and Medicine community will display and sell their books and zines.
Programming for the public
This year’s theme, Access Points, will highlight accessibility as a crucial aspect linking comics and health. In keeping with that theme, conference organizers chose to hold it at the Seattle Central Library and open many sessions to the public, all in the main auditorium, including keynote speakers:
- Hillary Chute, “Comics and Psychic States: Access, Interiority, Circulation.” Chute is author of Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics, Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists, and Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form. (Friday, June 16, 9-10 am)
- Georgia Webber,”Drawing the Inside Out”. Webber is a comics artist, craniosacral therapist, meditation facilitator, and radio producer. Her most notable comics series, Dumb, chronicles her severe vocal injury and ongoing (sometimes silent) recovery. (Friday, June 16, 5-6 pm)
- Rupert Kinnard, “Psychobabbleography: The Examination of an Absurdly Mentally and Physically Challenging Life.” Kinnard created the first LGBTQ-identified African American comic strip characters in his groundbreaking series Cathartic Comics. His comics work spans all facets of his personal identity, from race, gender, and sexuality to classism, ageism, and disability. (Saturday, June 17, 2:15-3:15 pm)
- Comics Marketplace (Saturday, June 17, 3:30-5:30, Seattle Central Library Fourth Floor)
For a full listing of conference events open to the public, visit http://bit.ly/2rVbJTG.
For more information about “Comics & Medicine 2017: Access Points”, visit www.graphicmedicine.org