Thirty-eight short comics reflect on body image from the perspectives of queer men, exploring our understandings of masculinity, attraction and self-worth. Interspersed throughout the book are fact sheets with the latest findings in queer men’s health research, providing readers with a mix of scholarly literature and heartfelt depictions of personal experience.

Meet three of the artists behind Rainbow Reflections at DCAF’s programming day, Saturday August 17th at Alderney Gate Public Library.

Noon – 12:45PM Saturday August 17, 2019
Helen Creighton Room, Alderney Gate Library

A panel to discuss their experiences working on the project and about the subject matter of the comic. Art and scholarship come together in this stunning full-colour comics anthology.

• Fabien Barabé (he, his, him) – p. 59 of Rainbow Reflections.
Fabien and his husband moved to Nova Scotia in 1997 and he started to paint with watercolours and then moved on to acrylics. As a member of the Peggy’s Cove Area Festival of the Arts his love of Nova Scotia and its surroundings is the source of many of his inspired works. His imagination shows no bounds when it comes to materials he uses to create unique pieces. He had his first published cartoon strip “The Spice of Life” in two local Montreal papers from 1994 to 1996. Currently, he has returned to his first love of cartooning and “The Secret Life of a Naturist” is a spin-off to the Spice of Life.

• Max Janes (They, them, their) – p. 63 of Rainbow Reflections.
Max is a Queer Jewish punk residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Max has been doing art for as long as they can remember, and drawing comics nearly as long, though you would never know as they’ve all been hidden away. In their spare time, Max also knits, takes too many naps, and spends an alarming amount of time curating their meme collection. Max has been featured in the Breaking the 4th Wall art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as well as having competed in Art Battle speed painting on a number of occasions.

• James Iain Neish (he, him, his) – p. 139 of Rainbow Reflections. (James also did the cover art, and a number of “factsheet” inserts highlighting queer health research, dispersed throughout the book)
James is a freelance artist with a Fine Arts degree from the University of the Philippines. Passionate about illustrated narratives, he has worked on indie titles such as ‘Stripling Warrior’ by Brian Anderson and ‘Hero’ by Adam Sigrist, with short comics appearing in the anthologies ‘Blood Root #1’, ‘16Debut’, and ‘40 Winks’. His work often centers around themes connected to the LGBTQ community and the intersectional experience, questioning ideas of race, culture, and sexuality. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia in an apartment creeping with plants and filled with aquariums.

• Moderated by Jay Aaron Roy (he, him, his) – Jay is the owner/operator of Cape & Cowl Comics in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, founded in 2014. He is a local transgender advocate, who helped fight to ensure some gender-affirming surgeries became fully-funded within the province, and helped lobby the government to remove proof of gender reassignment surgery as a requirement in order to change the gender displayed on government identification. Through Cape and Cowl, Jay followed his passion and combined youth work and his love of comics and collectibles by offering the Leighann Wichman Safe Place as a safe space drop-in for local youth in the community inside his shop. He offers a wide range of community programming from free youth counselling sessions through a partnership with the Nova Scotia Health Authority, to Dungeons and Dragons nights in partnership with Autism Nova Scotia. When he can find a little time away from the shop, he is a community speaker on a variety of topics, enjoys walks on the beach with his love, and cuddles his three furbabies.