Graphic public health: an interview with Meredith Li-Vollmer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Public health is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses a wide range of activities and initiatives aimed at preventing diseases, addressing health disparities, promoting healthy behaviours, studying patterns, and improving the overall health of communities. Within this landscape, comics emerge as a dynamic tool for raising awareness, promoting healthy behaviour, enhancing understanding of public health messages, and effectively reaching diverse audiences, including those with low health literacy and language barriers. Notably, Meredith Li-Vollmer’s Graphic Public Health: A Comics Anthology and Roadmap assumes a prominent role in this framework. Published by Graphic Mundi (an imprint of the Penn State University Press) in 2022, this anthology attests to the power of the comic medium to facilitate health communication while delving into a wide-ranging public health-related theme. This email interview with Li-Vollmer follows a tripartite structure. In the inaugural segment, titled ‘The Artist,’ Li-Vollmer offers a comprehensive exposition of her artistic processes. In the subsequent segment titled ‘Comics and Public Health,’ Li-Vollmer articulates the capacity of the comic medium to serve as a transformative agent in public health. Finally, in the concluding part, ‘Graphic Public Health,’ she deliberates on the core principles that shape her 2022 work on graphic public health.