Arts & Culture

Humanities Center and Burton Blatt Institute Host ‘Cripping’ Graphic Medicine: Drawing Out the Public Sphere 2020

Friday, January 10, 2020, By Robert Conrad

The Humanities Center and the Burton Blatt Institute’s (BBI) Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach are hosting a two-part Syracuse Symposium, “‘Cripping’ Graphic Medicine: Drawing Out the Public Sphere 2020.”

MK Czerwiec, R.N., M.A., a.k.a. “Comic Nurse”, will lecture on the emerging field of graphic medicine on Thursday, Jan. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. at SUNY Upstate Medical University, New Academic Building 4414BC. Czerwiec will discuss how the growing field of graphic medicine can benefit all involved in health care, whether in the clinic, the classroom or the community.

On Friday, Jan. 24, Czerwiec will lead a workshop on graphic medicine exercises from 10 a.m. to noon at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Setnor Hall 3509/10. In this session, participants will engage with graphic medicine exercises to explore creative, reflective and inclusive practices for the care of self and others.

Both events are free and open to the public.

“These Syracuse Symposium events will address issues of power in the silencing of disability and the ‘voices‘ of those who experience barriers in healthcare and healthcare education and practice,” says Diane Wiener, research professor and associate director of interdisciplinary programs and outreach for BBI. “These events will also address how disabled people’s ‘voices‘ are sometimes silenced in Graphic Medicine, the comics industry, and beyond, thus demonstrating why adaptations are necessary to (re)fashion a primarily visual medium so that it is consistently accessible to a spectrum of creators and audiences.”

As was the case with the fall 2019 installments in the series, the symposium is sponsored by the Burton Blatt Institute’s Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach, the Consortium for Culture and Medicine (Le Moyne College, Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University), and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Czerwiec has been making comics under the pseudonym Comic Nurse since 2000. With UK physician Ian Williams, she co-runs GraphicMedicine.org, a website devoted to the intersection of comics and health. Her first graphic memoir, “Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371” (Penn State University Press, 2017), is believed to be the first graphic memoir created by a nurse. She is also a co-author of the Eisner Award-nominated Graphic Medicine Manifesto (Penn State University Press, 2015) which maps the field of Graphic Medicine.

The event locations have wheelchair-accessible space and bathrooms. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided. Please refrain from using scented products to ensure the comfort and safety of participants.

For information on parking or to request additional accommodations, please contact Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri at 315.443.2156 or razubal@law.syr.edu by Jan. 16.