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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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Happy Donate Life Month! 💙💚

Getting to create things out of these experiences that began with my body is essential to me. Plus it led me to my community which is everything. What do you hope to highlight this month about this little world?

#transplantlife #donatelifemonth taken in New York, New York by @tragicdarling

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7 months ago

It’s finally Fall in the City!

The weather is cool and weekends are for flea markets. I started with my neighborhood Morningside Farmer’s Mkt and then an UWS Tag Sale. An old timer at a craft sale some weeks back told me I had to come.

She. Was. Right. I walked away with wool wearers and silk scarves plus a swing coat. $3, $10, and $20. The perfect Fall day. In the park that Kathleen Kelley met Joe Fox. Just lovely. taken in Upper West Side by @tragicdarling

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8 days ago

GMIC Board Welcomes Esther Saltzman and Gianna Paniagua

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

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2 months ago

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.] by @tragicdarling

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2 months ago

Haul from this year’s @graphicmedicine conference in Baltimore! Amazing time seeing so many familiar faces and meeting all sorts of incredible new people. I’m thrilled to be joining the board and adding more to this community in the future.

Swipe to see how my continuous comic turned out. I spent a lot of time yapping in between sessions instead of collecting more comics pages but love the ones some of you did add to the book. To make up for extra pages, I created a comic overview of this year’s many moments and characters. taken in New York, New York by @tragicdarling

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3 months ago

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 by @tragicdarling

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4 months ago

✨Come see me talk on a comics panel about manga and medicine on June 1st ✨

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 @kriotawillberg , Japanese manga artist Moka Onmae @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.

Register for in person tickets or for the live stream on the NYPL events website taken in Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library - SNFL, NYPL by @tragicdarling

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5 months ago

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 🌃 by @tragicdarling

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5 months ago

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. by @tragicdarling

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6 months ago

My full @bonusdaysmag comic from this month’s issue. These are the real life people and stories on these pages!

All of my comics begin with embodied experiences that come from either myself or people I encounter and depict narratives that I believe deserve a little bit extra attention. Graphic medicine comics use the magic of visual storytelling along with text because sometimes you need a different lens in order to get a certain point across.

Thank you to everyone for being a part of this story! @surlyidealist @the_heart_of_the_journey @_ritabook @sydneykur.land @__neekz @aidan_renda

@graphicmedicine #graphicmedicine #bonusdays #comics #transplantlife #donatelifemonth taken in New York, New York by @tragicdarling

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6 months ago

The new issue of @bonusdaysmag is finally here! This month I’ve got a comic talking about the importance of friendships between transplant recipients featuring all of my friends.

My comic this time is actually two pages long and I’ll be posting the full length version along with bios of all the people depicted separately. These relationships are so essential and special, so I’m thrilled to have a unique platform like this magazine to reach the perfect audience for it. I’m grateful to share these narratives alongside all the other talented storytellers in this and every issue.

What a perfect way to keep celebrating Donate Life Month 💙💚

#bonusdays #giftoflife #donatelife #transplantlife #organtransplant taken in New York, New York by @tragicdarling

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6 months ago

What’s in my hospital Go Bag? Some things I find are essentials that I grabbed before rushing out to the ER last week. What do you take with you before you head to the hospital?

#transplantlife #hearttransplant #chronicillness taken in New York, New York by @tragicdarling

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6 months ago