Dana Medical Library presents a series of events that explore the writing genre called “Graphic Medicine”. Graphic Medicine, coined by Dr. Ian Williams, is “the intersection of the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare”. Williams believes that graphic medicine can assist medical professionals by effectively relating patient or caregiver experience and playing a role in the discussion of difficult subject matters. It can be a means of healing from trauma. There are currently two graphic medicine exhibits on display in the library.
On display in Dana’s exhibit cases, the exhibit Graphic Medicine as Medical Narrative explores why this is an important medium of expression for authors and medical professionals alike. It looks at why graphic medicine is so effective with the use of comics - the combination of image and text to convey perspective. The exhibit also points out some great graphic medicine books to pick up, including a few written by acclaimed Vermont authors. This exhibit is on display until the end of April.
Courtesy of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, the traveling exhibition Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn! is on display until April 13th.
- Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn! explores an increasingly popular, yet little-known literary field that presents personal stories of illness and health through the medium of comics. Showcasing items from the National Library of Medicine’s growing collection of graphic memoirs, the stories depict people’s experiences with an array of health issues, from breast cancer and deafness to mental illness and HIV/AIDS.
Dana Medical Library presents, A Conversation with Graphic Medicine Author Rachel Lindsay: Reclaiming Patient Narrative in Graphic Medicine, Thursday, April 4th at 5:30pm in the Larner Classroom, Medical Education Center, Room 100.
- Rachel Lindsay will discuss the creation of her book Rx: A Graphic Memoir, which chronicles her experience advertising psychopharmaceuticals as a bipolar person, and subsequent involuntary hospitalization for mania. A powerful new voice in the mental health realm of the Graphic Medicine community, Lindsay has spoken about her work at Harvard Medical School, Columbia University, Mount Sinai Hospital, and the California Institute of Integral Studies, among others. Based in Burlington, she is also the cartoonist of Rachel Lives Here Now, which runs weekly in Seven Days.
For more information about these events, contact Kate Bright or Alice Stokes.