Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Anderson, Kim

Area of Concentration

Art

Abstract

The graphic novel memoir utilizes the ubiquity and accessibility found in cartoon imagery to create an intimate understanding between artist and audience, providing the best route for an ethical retelling of traumanarrative. Through my own personal, lighthearted, and sometimes humorous retelling of memories and experiences of displacement and clashing family dynamics in Some Wild Bouquet , a digitally illustrated graphic memoir, I am able to tell a story of cultural hybridity that speaks to those who share these stories, as well as those who wouldn't normally be privy to them. In following the precedent set for autobiographical graphic novel, or autographic, by artists such as Alison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi, and Lynda Barry, my work attempts to frame a coming of age story. Gloria Anzaldua’s definition of a hybrid identity being a culmination of many cultures manifesting as a singular entity has guided a story encompassing the search for personal identity in the shadow of two very different cultural upbringings. Some Wild Bouquet attempts to tell this story visually, through emotive linedrawing formed through a process of collage, photography, and collective life writing.

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