Personal Narratives
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Date
2008
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture
Abstract
This body of work is comprised of autobiographical narratives from my everyday experiences. The conflict in the stories comes both from without and within: awkward, frustrating situations force perplexed responses from the protagonist (me) even as I struggle to maintain internal balance between combative contradictory thoughts and impulses. I adopt many conventions from comic books. They allow me to freely incorporate text and image into the same pictorial space. Additionally, the comic book form possesses associations with "low art" that are valuable to my work. Comics are entertaining and non-threatening - they are perceived as childish and frivolous, and are accessible to a mass audience. I use the formal devices of comic books to raise the viewer/reader's expectations for a lighthearted, juvenile form of entertainment. However, once the viewer/reader examines the work more closely, I give them something else: a new way of looking at regular life that reveals the profound in the ordinary; a chance to identify with my awkward, deeply personal experiences; a quiet note of encouragement that none of us is truly alone.