Bella Costantino

Documenting the Failure of Collaborative Care for Queer Subjects:

How the Graphic Memoir Restores Interdependence in 7 Miles a Second and Kimiko Does Cancer

Faculty Advisor: Deborah Nelson, Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of English

Bella’s thesis is a thoughtfully written analysis of the way that graphic memoirs about the illness experiences of queer people challenge normative assumptions about gender, sexuality, and the body. She develops her argument around the analytic of “collaboration”, drawing out the resonances between how relationships between artist and author, doctor and patient are both formed and represented.