Comics for better care: 1st Meeting of patient-comics authors
Comics at the bedside of healthcare: a unique day of exchange at the Faculty of Medicine.
Three comic strip artists agreed to come and debate and run workshops with students at the University of Montpellier (UM), at the invitation of the medical faculty, who routinely use comics as a medium for their teaching, such as narrative medicine and many others... Each of them has published a comic strip (BD) about his or her care journey and relationship with medicine, for different health problems, but with certain common experiences that draw a universal outline to the "carer-cared" relationship.
Alice Baguet, Olivia Hagimont and Matthieu Blanchin will develop, enrich and question the patient-caregiver relationship. Thanks to these exchanges, the meaning given to "care" in our society will be addressed on a philosophical, political, ethical and artistic level.
This event is part of the teaching through comics project developed since 2023 at the Faculty of Medicine in conjunction with the University's common documentation service: 250 comics related to healthcare are now available in the medical BUs in Nîmes and Montpellier.
What does it mean to be a caregiver or a patient? How do we care? How do patients view the medical profession? Through the accessible and original medium of comics, the public can discover how this "9th art", which carries the voice and experience of these patient-authors, has become a teaching aid for the Faculty, and contributes to training through reflection on the meaning given to the act of caring. The interest of the general public also lies in the sharing of experiences around care in general and the expression of patient experiences.
On Friday June 13, 2025, between 10am and 7pm, join Alice Baguet, Olivia Hagimont and Matthieu Blanchin for book signings and meetings at the student health stands, the university library and an all-day bookshop. To round off the day, an open debate will take place at the end of the afternoon in the anatomy amphitheatre of the Faculty of Medicine's historic building.
Practical organization :
- Date: Friday, June 13, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Location: Historic building of the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine, 2, rue école de médecine
- Target audience: all
- Guests: Alice Baguet, Olivia Hagimont, Matthieu Blanchin
Program :
- Comic book fair from 10am to 7pm, time for meetings between guests, students and health teachers, book signings: I'd like to register for the workshops
- Workshops at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.: based on comic strips written by well-known patient comic strip authors, led by faculty members in the presence of the authors: 2 workshops, open to health students at the University, but also to any student interested in care, the care-giver-patient relationship, or issues relating to the body.
- Stands: University libraries (UM common documentation service), student associations, "En traits libres" bookseller (sales and dedications), enabling meetings and exchanges with the general public, with the support of the art & culture department of the University of Montpellier's Campus Life Division, and the health student associations of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier and Nîmes.
- Conference Round table for the general public at 5:30 p.m. on the relationship between caregiver and cared-for, the experience of being cared for and of being a caregiver, the expression and testimony of experience, the place of literature in general and comics in particular in the teaching of medicine and care professions (narrative medicine), new forms of care teaching.
Cross-curricular activities: authors and teachers, with the support of the joint documentation service and the Art and Culture department of the University of Montpellier.
Public: students and the general public
Guest bookseller on site (Librairie En traits libres)
