Oakwood Comic Book Program - Oakwood Healthcare System

A picture is famously the equal of a thousand words, but words that are, at best, implied.
“Graphic detail” is that which has the unambiguousness of a picture, detail that ought to
be understood universally, without interpretation. Yet a picture can appear in as many
different ways as there are people who can see, think and understand. A picture may
be defined uniquely by as many of those people as have the use of language, and may
be transformed by those who use language as art. Every pair of eyes and every voice
multiplies the thousand words that are a picture’s nominal value.
When it occurs, the transition from image to language is not a door, but a bridge that
crosses emotion, memory, recognition and intention. In each case it can lead to a
response not only as detailed and explicit as the picture that generated it but also as
original and personal.
The human spirit is always present and moving, in every age and phase of existence,
including those from which we move on and experience a different kind of life. Each of
the works of prose and poetry in this journal is the result of its creator’s encounter with
one of the nine pictures in the Graphic Stories exhibition. Each, even the most free,
individual or questioning, is proof of the movement of art on the human spirit, to awaken
and breathe, to act and create. That is what draws these fifteen stories, prose reflections
and poems together.
Yep
Eugene Session
“Yeah, that’s great,” I say, walking about the gallery, soda cup in hand, the proverbial
Big Gulp from 7-11. Thirty-two ounces of bladder filling slushy goodness. The hot little
number wrapped around my arm wastes no time in glaring at me for bringing it in.
She’s pointing and squeaking out names that sound more like sentences than actual
people. All I can do is just nod my head, feign interest, look at my watch and pray the
fabric of space time accelerates so I can somehow get out of here and make it home in
time to watch the game. She inquires about my opinion on the work but I can’t think of
much to say, and she’s really not interested anyway. She goes off on her egghead, artsy
rants and my reply is always the same, the standard slow nod followed by a monotone
“Mm-hm.” …She never seems to notice.
I look down at my watch. 8:45...it’s gonna be a long night.
If you visited the exhibition before opening this book you most likely saw the pictures
in it for the first time. You set foot on the same bridge as these writers. A love for our
common humanity allows anyone who crosses it, who is essentially humane and
optimistic, the broadest range of expression. This is what we hope to present in this
show and in this journal.
Our writers and artists have thought of their neighbors, the patients, family members
and caregivers who will come into the presence of their work in the Oakwood setting.
They have thought of what these people have just experienced or are anticipating as
they pause to view or read these works. They have thought of classic comics and new
stories of imagination and fantasy. They are people who also sometimes think of castles,
mountains, stars, thrilling adventure and heroes who defend and save.
True art, like true beauty, is purely subjective, and takes an infinite variety of shapes and
appearances. It is an individual and even private thing. But we know that a strengthening,
inspiring work of art can be any that moves us to laugh, to remember with affection, to
remain curious about the world and the human condition and still find confidence and
satisfaction in them.
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