Radiator Comics

Description

The How Well? Anthology uses interviews, scholarship, and first-person narratives to investigate different aspects of wellness. Acknowledging our culture’s current overwhelming association of “wellness” with high-end marketing of products, accessories, and “lifestyle” brands, these comics and essays focus their attention on why wellness isn’t a priority for most of us. How are people alienated, discouraged, and blocked from caring for themselves and their community?

The six collected comics are compelling and engaging, and ask a lot of important questions. How does social stigma restrict wellness? Why do we try to avoid acknowledging disability, and how can we center disability when designing our built environment? How do we combat unrealistic expectations about work/life balances or concepts of fitness? How can we celebrate and welcome our varied lifestyles and goals for living well? How does wellness extend beyond the individual, into community and collective action?

This anthology grew out of years of interviews, research, and cultural events coordinated by Carnegie Mellon University faculty Heather Kelley, Gabriele Maier, and Candace Skibba. The range of subject and style of the comics in The How Well? Anthology bring important and provocative conversations to the graphic medicine dialogue.