EUA Graphics: Comic Art & Grand Rounds Exhibition

Join us in celebrating the artwork created for the “EUA Graphics” Project at the BC Children’s Hospital! 

BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH), Chan Education Centre
May 17th, 2024, 12-1 PM 

“Exams Under Anaesthesia (EUA) Graphics: Equity and Neurodiversity in the Operating Room” is a collaboration between Pediatrician Dr. Anamaria Richardson and UBC Comics Studies Cluster Director Dr. Biz Nijdam. The project invited nine cartoonists to create nine short comics based on their engagement with interviews with the parents of neurodivergent children. These documents recount the difficult experiences of parents and caregivers of neurodivergent children who undergo treatment by sedation at BC Children’s Hospital.

The “EUA Graphics” Project sought to investigate how comics and graphic art might function as a method of thematic analysis for the scientific results of Dr. Richardson’s research.

The artwork and statements from the artists will be available for viewing on May 17th in the Chan Education Centre at BC Children’s Hospital and digitally on the UBC Comics Studies Cluster’s website: comics.arts.ubc.ca/eua-graphics

Join via Zoom: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/92046953122?pwd=TVQ5ZXNRWGJzOGJaeFBoVTdNbjZHQT09

Project Leads  

image credit: Kelly Chen

Elizabeth “Biz” Nijdam (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia. Before joining the faculty at UBC and returning home to Vancouver, she taught at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington (2018-2019) and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Freie Universität in Berlin (2017-2018). She graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2017.

Biz’s research and teaching examine the representation of history in comics, comics and new media on forced migration, intersections between Indigenous studies and German, European, and migration studies, and feminist methodologies in the graphic arts. At UBC, she leads the Narratives Research Group in the UBC Centre for Migration Studies and founded and co-leads the recently established Comic Studies Research Cluster in UBC’s Public Humanities Hub. Biz is also the Equity Chair for German Studies Canada and sits on the Executive Committee of the International Comic Arts Forum and the Executive Board of the Comics Studies Society.

 

image credit: Kelly Chen

Dr. Anamaria Richardson (she/her) is a community-based pediatrician who has been welcomed by the autism community — she specialize in severe autism, especially for those with intellectual impairment and self injury. Previously, she worked in complex care and in biochemical diseases — this has resulted in her interest in medical complexity as well. Her background includes being a teacher, so she understands the challenges experienced by kids navigating both systems — health and education. Recently she has also become a qualified specialist to do autism assessments. Her current interests and research is around advancing health outcomes and advocating for increased collaboration to support families and kids with severe autism. Finally, she also works within many Indigenous communities — both rural and urban — and is currently working on a project to create an Indigenous-focused healthy living web-based portal.

 

 

Featured Speaker

Rebecca “Bex” Burgess (they/them) is a freelance comic artist and illustrator living in the UK. She has an interest in history and folk songs that runs through a lot of her work. Her obsession with comics runs into her spare time, where she draws two web comics! Rebecca also likes to play video games, explore the countryside and dress like a time traveler!