Thomas, I. (2021). “We are all living in finite bodies”: a conversation about graphic medicine. The Comics Journal. Retrieved from http://www.tcj.com/ian-thomas-graphic-medicine-interview/
ABSTRACT:
The Graphic Medicine website was launched in 2007 as an outgrowth of Dr. Ian Williams’ post-graduate work in the study of fine art and Medical Humanities. Now a practicing physician based in the UK, Williams has been making comics informed by his experiences for over a decade. In 2012, Williams joined MK Czerwiec, RN, MA, (also known as ComicNurse)to relaunch the website as GraphicMedicine.org.
In the intervening years, Graphic Medicine has grown, becoming an international cohort of scholars, librarians, educators, and health care professionals whose goal is to highlight the ways in which graphic narratives can enrich the discourse around medical issues, such as health care, illness, disability, and bodily autonomy. This analysis takes a variety of forms, such as reviews, interviews, podcasts, and, yes, comics. Through their work, they have helped bring to bear a field of scholarship on these subjects and built another avenue within academia that gives comics deeper, more thoughtful consideration.
Importantly, the Graphic Medicine methodology does not just emphasize the the benefits of consuming comics, but of creating them, as well. Their scholarship indicates that this has proven empowering to health care providers and recipients, alike. Above all, Graphic Medicine espouses comics as a tool for communication. In the era of COVID-19, the benefits of succinct, easily transmissible communication, have never been more clear and the necessity of it has never been greater. I caught up with MK Czerwiec via email to discuss Graphic Medicine’s past, present, and future.