The Graphic Medicine Confab

The Graphic Medicine Confab is a roundtable conversation focusing on the challenges and techniques of making graphic medicine: comics about everything and anything to do with health, medicine, illness and our bodies. Meetings are organized by Kriota Willberg, Joel Christian Gill, Georgia Webber, and Benjamin Schwartz. Each Confab has a theme and a facilitator (see below for details.)

The GMC began the summer of 2020 via Zoom. Artists, educators, librarians, health care professionals, patients, and others contributed compelling  questions and comments, creating dynamic conversations about a wide range of topics.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #1 with Kriota Willberg (6-16-20)

Part 1 of an initial 4-part series on Graphic Medicine. Kriota Willberg presents, “How Can We Make Dangerous Information Less Threatening?” A Zoom conversation identifying forms and contexts of “dangerous” information and sharing different perspectives and techniques for rendering sensitive subjects into comics forms. Excerpts from Willberg’s Silver Wire and an upcomic project are used. With cartoonists Kriota Willberg, Joel Christian Gill, Georgia Webber, and Benjamin Schwartz.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #2 with Joel Christian Gill (6-30-20)

Part 2 of an initial 4-part series on graphic medicine.  Joel Christian Gill: “Emotion and Style in Comics.” A Zoom conversation about methods for communicating character emotion and environmental mood in comics telling intensely personal stories. Excerpts from Gill’s Fights! are used. With cartoonists Kriota Willberg, Joel Christian Gill, Georgia Webber, and Benjamin Schwartz.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #3 with Georgia Webber (7-14-20)

Part 3 of an initial 4-part series on graphic medicine. Georgia Webber: “Collaborating Across Access Needs” A Zoom conversation describing Georgia’s collaborative process with Vivian Chong and Kathleen Rea in the creation of Dancing After TEN. All collaborators identify as having disabilities. Excerpts from the book are used. With cartoonists Kriota Willberg, Joel Christian Gill, Georgia Webber, and Benjamin Schwartz.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #4 with Benjamin Schwartz (7-28-20)

Part 4 of an initial 4-part series on graphic medicine. Benjamin Schwartz: “Humor, Comics, and Medicine.” A Zoom conversation questioning contexts for humor in graphic medicine, its uses, and exploring techniques for using humor in gag cartoons and comics. Examples of Schwartz’s New Yorker gag cartoons are used. With cartoonists Kriota Willberg, Joel Christian Gill, Georgia Webber, and Benjamin Schwartz.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #5 with Theresa Rojas (02/12/21)

The first lecture in the second session of the Graphic Medicine Confab featured Dr. Theresa Rojas joining the Graphic Medicine Confab facilitators Georgia Webber, Joel Christian Gill, Benjamin Schwartz, and Kriota Willberg, and guests to talk all about study guides: what they are, how they are used, where to find them, how to make them, and more.

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Graphic Medicine Confab #6: TCAF, May 2021: “Are You Teaching Graphic Medicine”