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Gianna Paniagua

@tragicdarling

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🖋️Graphic Medicine. Cubanita from Manhattan 🇨🇺
💖 32 years with my Heart Transplants: 1992, 2021🫀🫀🫀NYC @columbiaalumni @narrative_medicine 🩵

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GMIC Board Welcomes Esther Saltzman and Gianna Paniagua

https://www.graphicmedicine.org/gmic-board-welcomes-esther-saltzman-and-gianna-paniagua/

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Calling all disabled and chronically ill creatives in NYC! Want to roam around like city rats and talk art, crafting, and accessibility with us?

We are two artists creating the community that we’ve always dreamt of. Hosting virtual and online meetups every month, we want to bring events that cover all topics of creativity. Bring your hobbies but also have the chance to learn something new- or teach us all you know!

Community FOR community: no membership fees or cost to attend any of our meetings.

✨Launching Fall 2026 ✨

[Image description: A close up of a green table with two people sitting with only their hands in view. One with a sketchbook with drawings and pens, and the other in a wheelchair has a bagel with feeding tube extensions beside them.]

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Biennial snippets

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Fast doodles from the panel “Illness in Illustration” at @nyplsnfl Library on Monday. With Gianna Paniagua @tragicdarling Moka Onmae @moka_onmae and Tsubasa Kosaka. Sponsored by Mint (Manga International Network Team).
Moderated by Kriota Willberg @kriotawillberg Translation by Tomoko Takedani Sater
@nypl

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Coming up Monday | How do serious topics like living with a heart transplant or cancer translate into comics? And how are do those reflected experiences compare and contrast when it comes to North American comics and Japanese manga? Moderated by graphic medicine comic artist Kriota Willberg, Japanese manga artist Moka Onmae, her editor Tsubasa Kosaka from AKITASHOTEN, and American comic artist Gianna Paniagua discuss graphic medicine and how their personal experiences with illness shaped the stories they tell.

🗓 Monday, June 1
🕕 6:30 PM
📍 Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library + Livestream

RSVP at tinyurl.com/snfl7storiesup 🌃

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Last year, the one and only Gianna Paniagua (@tragicdarling), artist and two-time heart transplant recipient, took over our channel during Donate Life month. Here she introduced us to her world of papercutting.

From @tragicdarling:
It’s simple- just you, some paper, a cutting mat, and scalpel-like blade. The repetition that exists in my life of always having tests or procedures to check on my transplanted heart finds itself onto the page with just those few simple items.

Papercutting is a meditation for me. It’s a concentration on the now, that leaves me with a physical object I can keep for the future. When all evidence of testing is wiped away clean, having evidence of something is precious.

Your body existed in a place and now you have proof: It’s a record of my sacrifice.

There are ways, whether you are a patient or provider, to make this combination of medicine and life fun. There’s always another thing on the schedule, so let’s create something out of these experiences.

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Still unpacking / straightening out my studio, but I wanna take a beat to appreciate everyone I saw this weekend. Big thanks to Arabelle, Jordan, Bill, and the rest who helped run MoCCA 2026… to @amy_chu and the other award judges who hooked it up big time… to Tucker for being the best of the best… and to the students & peers & readers who keep this art form alive.

Pic 2: @alejandroarbonahomar
Badge art: Caroline Cash
🙏 @mikecavallaroart @chloe.in.pink @jukeboxcomix

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What an amazing day at MoCCA! Definitely experienced visual overload, but I left feeling inspired. Great to see old @graphicmedicine and comics buddies—and to make some new ones! Thanks to @soi128 for another amazing event!

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This week, you celebrated your 5 year heart anniversary.You received a new heart,29 years after your first transplant On this day, I have to thank and honor the donor family. None of this is possible without the gift of life from the donor family. 💚 COVID was still wreaking havoc when you were listed and received your heart. The hospital protocols to keep everyone safe and healthy did not make it easier but the team at Vanderbilt Medical Center was amazing from beginning to end. I’m SO Thankful and grateful to everyone who has helped us through this difficult journey. I’m so proud of you and all that you have accomplished since then. You have honored your donor by living your life to the fullest. Happy heartversary! Love you 💚💚💚💚💚 #DONATELIFETN #hearttransplantrecipient #vumc

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Yes, it’s chilly out 😌
Come say hi to me @renegadecraft — fun prints, warm smile, and good vibes always 💛

Big thanks to.
@magaliregis @hija_de_flores @tragicdarling

#RenegadeCraft #MeetTheMaker #WomenOwnedBrand #CozyStyle

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Earlier this year, myself and a couple friends nominated Alison for the AST Transplant Advocacy Award. Her inspiring work on Bonus Days was too good to not to bring to the Board of Directors/ Council. What most people don’t see is the behind the scenes. The relentless efforts she puts forth, the flights, the ideas she floats around, the absolute tenacity she has even when the odds are against her. This magazine isn’t your every day grocery store find. It’s an act of love. It’s sacrifice. It’s art. It’s connection. It’s everything you didn’t know you needed, transplant or not. Every human could benefit from the goodness this magazine brings. It’s magic.

I, myself, have felt so hopeful when Bonus Days is in my hands. I feel seen in ways my closest friends and family can’t even see me. The stories she brings to light are always inspiring and make me hopeful for a better tomorrow.

Lucky for me, I get to be apart of Bonus Days in every issue. I write the book corner to give people different ideas of books to read. I have an eclectic taste and I love sharing it. Reading is my biggest coping mechanism and it has gotten me through a lot of hard days.

This issue I get to be next to one of my favorite humans @thejohnsanny and it is such an honor. His piece alone is perfection. 🥹
Can we also just acknowledge the beauty that is @a_change_of_heart_blog on the cover? My goodness 😍

There we have it folks, buy this issue (and other issues) of Bonus Days. They’d make great presents for the holidays! It’s so important and so meaningful. I promise you won’t be disappointed. The link is in my bio. ❤️🫀💚

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Come on get in. lets go get the next issue of Bonus Days together. (The absolute biggest thanks to @abominablefilms for creating this video and being the best road trip partner)

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