The following is an interview with Rachel M. Thomas regarding the release of the graphic memoir, Shrink, through publisher Graphic Mundi. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Thomas about her creative approach to bringing the personal narrative to life on the page, how she hopes the story’s messages will connect with today’s readers, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the release of Shrink! What can you share with us about the genesis behind this project?
Rachel M. Thomas: Thank you so much, Barbra. It was a labour of love and research, that’s for sure. I’ve worked at the intersection between art and health since I started my MFA at the University of Calgary. Everything really started to crystalize for me was when I began my doctorate at Concordia University. I was working with an amazing supervisor, professor emeritus Dr. Genevieve Rail, on a medical sociology study looking at healthcare bias against fat women undergoing IVF treatment and I had a bit of an epiphany. All the information we were gathering and analyzing would have impact on women in the community, but due to the nature of academia, would likely only be available behind a paywall as part of an academic journal. It brought forth my thinking around making academic research accessible, and so my foray into graphic medicine was born.
BD: In balancing the writing and illustrative duties of the project, what can you tell us about your creative and research processes in bringing this personal narrative to life on the page?
RMT: I was using myself as a bit of a guinea pig in this process in the sense that I was analyzing my own experiences with weightloss to explore facets of cultural experience (a methodology known as auto-ethnography). Going through the process at the same time as writing and illustrating the book helped me to pinpoint the most salient issues to delve into on the research side. It was also incredibly important for me to show the good and the bad sides of everything, from harmful rhetoric in the medical profession to the backlash and shame coming from fat advocacy groups for purposeful weightloss. In terms of the illustration portion, it was sometimes as painful as it was cathartic. Like many fat girls, I rarely took pictures of myself before this process started. However as I began illustrating the book, I was either drawing from a mirror or reference photos and was forced to really look at myself and how my body changed over time. Confronting myself in such a way made me much more appreciative of my body at whatever size it was, and moreover that I deserved care whether I was a size 20 or a size 8.
My recommendation? Take the damn photo. What your body looks like any given day is one of the least interesting things about you, and you’ll miss capturing memories that you’ll want to look back on.
BD: What makes Graphic Mundi the perfect home for this story?
RMT: In addition to the fact that it is an imprint that focuses on graphic novels specifically, it is a hub for graphic medicine. Some truly incredible titles have come out in the field and published through GM, and I’m really stoked to be part of a forward thinking and pioneering house.
BD: Graphic Medicine is an emerging genre that combines the field of medicine with the medium of comics. How do you feel that Graphic Medicine stories like this one can not only help to engender empathy, but to initiate conversations around necessary topics like our society’s body weight bias?
RMT: Works of graphic medicine value the balance between providing health information and validation for readers. Accessibility is a big part of that balance, as well. Medical literacy rates in both Canada and the States isn’t great, averaging out somewhere at a 6th grade level for most adults. As an academic that ‘speaks the language’, I’m able to access the kind of jargon, statistics, methods, theories, etc. but for the general public there is a barrier not only in comprehension but also cost. I’m extremely privileged to work at a university that subscribes to an incredible number of databases, so I’m able to read articles for free, but most people don’t have that kind of access.
Graphic medicine bridges the gap. These are books that are readily available in a public library and rely on a balance between storytelling and visual language (the illustrations) to convey information.
Validation is also incredibly important. Many people find a sense of community in graphic novels generally (just ask my students!) and so this area of the medium is great particularly if you or someone you love is going through a similar experience.
For the area of weight bias particularly, it’s pushing limits in very interesting ways. Like other forms of media, we have certain expectations in terms of the types of bodies we tend to see in comics and graphic novels. The femme fatale comes to mind. These are ‘illustration-worthy bodies’. Shrink troubles that by providing a body type that even for the ‘acceptable’ type of fat body doesn’t meet beauty standards. The takeaway here is that there is no cookie cutter body type, and it’s important to see representation of reality in the media we consume, particularly now amid conversations about fatness in society and medicine.
On that note, too, Shrink isn’t meant to be a weight loss guide; it’s meant to show the most current research on our understanding of fatness and allowing readers to decide what makes the most sense for their body.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
RMT: I have two graphic novels on the go now. One focuses on Alzheimer’s disease through the eyes of an aging WW2 RAF pilot, and the second is looking at Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (which is the leading cause of infertility in reproductive age women). They’ll hopefully be completed in the next few years. If you’d like to keep up with my work, I’d encourage readers to follow me on Instagram – @rmthomas.author or @dr.rmthomas
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Shrink?
RMT: I would encourage having a look at the Graphic Mundi website.
It’s also available through most major retailers including Barnes and Noble (US), Indigo (Canada), Waterstones (UK), Amazon, etc.
