• Home
  • About
    ▼
    • What is Graphic Medicine?
    • Graphic Medicine International Collective
      ▼
      • GMIC Board Resources
    • Website Team
    • Related Sites
      ▼
      • Medicina Grafica
      • Japanese Graphic Medicine Association
      • Pathographics
  • Latest
    ▼
    • News
    • The Inaugural Graphic Medicine Award
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • Spotlight Archive
  • Reviews
    ▼
    • All
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Graphic Novels
    • Educational
    • Manga
    • Write A Review!
  • Conferences
    ▼
    • 2022 Graphic Medicine Conference
    • The Graphic Medicine 2021 UnConvention Archive
    • 2020 Toronto Conference
    • 2019 Brighton Conference
    • 2018 Vermont Conference
    • 2017 Seattle Conference
      ▼
      • Home
      • Program
      • Registration (NOW CLOSED)
      • Lodging in Seattle
      • 2017 Seattle Conference Sponsors
      • Call for Art
      • Press/Media Inquiries
    • 2016 Dundee Conference
    • 2015 Riverside Conference
    • 2014 Baltimore Conference
      ▼
      • Home
      • Program 2014
        ▼
        • Program 2014
        • Keynote Speakers 2014
        • Marketplace 2014
        • Juried Exhibit 2014
        • Call for Papers 2014 (closed)
      • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        ▼
        • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Additional hotel suggestions
      • Sponsors 2014
      • Baltimore Restaurants & Attractions
      • FAQs 2014
      • Registration 2014 (closed)
    • 2013 Brighton Conference
    • 2012 Toronto Conference
    • 2011 Chicago Conference
    • 2010 London Conference
  • MultiMedia
    ▼
    • Podcasts
    • Graphic Medicine Video Archive
    • Graphic Medicine Exhibits
  • Resources
    ▼
    • Essential Graphic Medicine: An Annotated Bibliography
    • COVID-19 Comics
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • National Library of Medicine Graphic Medicine Exhibit
    • Liaison Program
    • Publishers
    • RESEARCH
    • TEACHING
    • GRAPHIC MEDICINE CONFAB ARCHIVE
  • Merch/Support
    ▼
    • Bookshop Store
    • 2021 Un-Convention MERCH
    • 2022 Conference Merch
    • RedBubble Store
    • DONATE
  • Contact
    ▼
    • Contact Form/Email
    • Social Media
Graphic Medicine
  • Home
  • About
    • What is Graphic Medicine?
    • Graphic Medicine International Collective
      • GMIC Board Resources
    • Website Team
    • Related Sites
      • Medicina Grafica
      • Japanese Graphic Medicine Association
      • Pathographics
  • Latest
    • News
    • The Inaugural Graphic Medicine Award
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • Spotlight Archive
  • Reviews
    • All
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Graphic Novels
    • Educational
    • Manga
    • Write A Review!
  • Conferences
    • 2022 Graphic Medicine Conference
    • The Graphic Medicine 2021 UnConvention Archive
    • 2020 Toronto Conference
    • 2019 Brighton Conference
    • 2018 Vermont Conference
    • 2017 Seattle Conference
      • Home
      • Program
      • Registration (NOW CLOSED)
      • Lodging in Seattle
      • 2017 Seattle Conference Sponsors
      • Call for Art
      • Press/Media Inquiries
    • 2016 Dundee Conference
    • 2015 Riverside Conference
    • 2014 Baltimore Conference
      • Home
      • Program 2014
        • Program 2014
        • Keynote Speakers 2014
        • Marketplace 2014
        • Juried Exhibit 2014
        • Call for Papers 2014 (closed)
      • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Additional hotel suggestions
      • Sponsors 2014
      • Baltimore Restaurants & Attractions
      • FAQs 2014
      • Registration 2014 (closed)
    • 2013 Brighton Conference
    • 2012 Toronto Conference
    • 2011 Chicago Conference
    • 2010 London Conference
  • MultiMedia
    • Podcasts
    • Graphic Medicine Video Archive
    • Graphic Medicine Exhibits
  • Resources
    • Essential Graphic Medicine: An Annotated Bibliography
    • COVID-19 Comics
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • National Library of Medicine Graphic Medicine Exhibit
    • Liaison Program
    • Publishers
    • RESEARCH
    • TEACHING
    • GRAPHIC MEDICINE CONFAB ARCHIVE
  • Merch/Support
    • Bookshop Store
    • 2021 Un-Convention MERCH
    • 2022 Conference Merch
    • RedBubble Store
    • DONATE
  • Contact
    • Contact Form/Email
    • Social Media
Home / Latest / Spotlight: Liz Argall

Spotlight: Liz Argall

Oct. 10, 2020 by Comic Nurse

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

We live in turbulent times. Graphic Medicine’s Drawing Together meetups, at first weekly and now monthly, have been a helpful community of practice as we navigate these waters. The following comic started as a rough, raw journal entry and a one-page comic at one of those meetups.

Thank you for creating such a powerful space. Many thanks to critiquers and sensitivity readers. Creating this comic was hard, fulfilling and I wish such vivid examples did not come from too many cruel, personal stories. I hope it adds to the conversation, I hope you share it or use it as ammunition the inevitable next time mental health is used as a scapegoat or diminishing of a person. 

We desperately need to have better conversations about mental health.

If you’ve heard of me as a creator before this, there’s a chance it might be for my strange short stories or roleplaying games, but it’s most likely because of my webcomic thingswithout.com and one particular comic, A Sad. https://www.thingswithout.com/comic/311-a-sad/

This comic started in 2012, as part of the Clarion Write-a-Thon and I’ve been creating it ever since. They’ve been a nugget of joy, at times a life raft to hold on to… and at times a crutch. 

The Things are an all ages comic, and that is an important principle to maintain and protect. I’ve heard wonderful stories about how it’s helped people learn how to read, challenge gender assumptions, articulate emotional needs, and be there for people. It’s also meant as an artist and creator I had a cosy place to hide in and to only challenge myself in certain ways.

Early this year, just before Covid-19 hit, I knew I needed to create other, more difficult stories, in addition to the Things. I knew I needed to reach out, and stretch out, and then much of the world shut down (or needed to shut down).

Fortunately, Graphic Medicine’s Drawing Together meetups, at first weekly and now monthly, came at just the right time. They have been so helpful as a place to connect, share, and be challenged. 

You can find more of my work at:  http://lizargall.com/ and https://www.thingswithout.com/

And you can support my work AND get updates, patron exclusive sketches and other fun stuff at https://www.patreon.com/lizargall

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Dennis Argall says

    Oct. 10, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    Very personal, also very broad and sweeping, Liz. Truly reflective of this historical moment. I think you should not feel guilt as expressed. You have spoken of the importance of knowing broadly what the issues and the need to address them. This we have to do collaboratively. As far as possible. I am as you know, very old. Very conscious of leaving the future for you and others but in a way different from past generations… Needing to recognize that we really don’t know the future. The future perhaps best shaped bit by bit, guided by principles about building a new world, rather than stubbornly clutching for the past.

    This opening essay of yours. Maybe others can speak of slices they want to discuss. I hope you can shift from guilty to future responsibility and responsibilities.

    Reply
    • Liz Argall says

      Oct. 11, 2020 at 12:25 pm

      Thanks you 🙂

      One of the reasons I hold onto the “We are the world” bit is that I think it’s easy for every generation to be wowed by folks younger and think “Oh well, I’m old, they’re more amazing than me, they’ll sort it out.” I think every generation is amazing and needed to push us towards change.

      Every generation has value and is needed, and I feel a bit protective of the new amazing youth. We need to be there for them and not just think they’ll sort it out. They’re also the most aggressively marketed to generation in history and the first to grow up with unregulated youtube tv creating frightening pathways to some awful concepts and propaganda.

      I think we need a virtual campfire we can all gather round, not a passing of a baton from one particular generation to another.

      Reply
      • Erin Partridge says

        Oct. 17, 2020 at 10:24 am

        “I think we need a virtual campfire we can all gather round, not a passing of a baton from one particular generation to another.” OH! I love love love this idea!

        Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Graphic Medicine

Graphic Medicine is a site that explores the interaction between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. We are a community of academics, health carers, authors, artists, and fans of comics and medicine. The site is maintained by an editorial team under the direction of the Graphic Medicine International Collective.

Subscribe to Graphic Medicine

Join our email list to keep up with the latest Graphic Medicine news!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Visit Our Sister Site for Spanish Readers

Visit Our Sister Site for Japanese Readers

Visit the Pathographics Project

© 2007 - 2022 Graphic Medicine International Collective

WordPress Developer