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Rx: A Graphic Memoir
VISUAL | In her early twenties in New York City, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Rachel Lindsay took a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment.

Rx: A Graphic Memoir: A Conversation with Rachel Lindsay

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/26/2018
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location
California Institute of Integral Studies

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In her early twenties in New York City, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Rachel Lindsay took a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment. But work took a strange turn when she was promoted onto the Pfizer account and suddenly found herself on the other side of the curtain, developing ads for an antidepressant drug. She was a representative of the target audience for the work she was producing, and this brought just how unhappy and trapped she felt into sharp focus. She was stuck in an endless cycle of treatment, insurance, and medication.

Overwhelmed by the stress of her professional life and the self-scrutiny it inspires, she began to destabilize and while in the midst of a crushing job search, her mania took hold. Her altered mindset yielded a simple solution: to quit her job and pursue life as an artist, an identity she had abandoned in exchange for medical treatment.

When her parents intervened, she found herself hospitalized against her will, and stripped of the control she felt she had finally reclaimed. Over the course of her two weeks in the ward, she struggled in the midst of doctors, nurses, patients and endless rules to find a path out of the hospital and this cycle of treatment. One where she could live the life she wants, finding freedom and autonomy, without sacrificing her dreams in order to stay well.

Join Rachel as she shares stories of her life, which inspired her graphic memoir, Rx, and discusses her experiences as an artist.

Rachel Lindsay is a Vermont-based cartoonist. Her comic strip, Rachel Lives Here Now, appears weekly in Vermont’s statewide newspaper, Seven Days. Her work has been featured in James Kochalka’s Superf*ckers Forever series; Evening Paper, a journal from the Center for Narrative Practice; the Seven Days Cartoon Issue; and issues 1 through 3 of the Maple Key Comics anthology. Her comic book series, The Wizard of Life, debuted in September 2015. Rachel’s work has been reviewed by both Comixology and The Comics Journal. She teaches comics at Burlington’s art center, Burlington City Arts.

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