Lepidoptera

TW/CW: self-harm, brief nudity

Ten-page comic, full-color (black and white on toned paper). Autobiographical/memoir. Meditation on the intersection of depression, living with an undiagnosed autoimmune disease, and a childhood infatuation with butterflies.

Paracosm utilizes a spectrum of visual and literary techniques. Lepidoptera, perhaps the work’s most traditional narrative piece, employs a conventional voice in memoir, the autographer’s retrospective, but juxtaposes this with diegetic dialogue and imagery for a nuanced, multilayered exploration of undiagnosed illness. The visual motif of the butterfly is by turns symbolic and diegetically relevant. The work itself is a multimedia piece on brown-toned paper, incorporating monochromatic Copic tonal variation, black ink, and Posca paint pen highlights. These materials allow this story, perhaps Paracosm’s heaviest, the greatest degree of tonal depth.