Dancing After Ten
Dancing After Ten
By Vivian Chong and Georgia Webber. Published by Fantagraphics.
Hardcover, 128 pages, 2-Colour, 2020.
A graphic biography about a woman who lives a vital and fulfilling artistic life after a rare disease left her blind.
In late 2004, Vivian Chong's life was changed forever when a rare skin disease, TEN (Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis), left her with scar tissue that would eventually blind her. As she was losing her sight, she put down as many drawings on paper as she could to document the experience. In Dancing After TEN, Chong teams up with cartoonist Georgia Webber — whose graphic autobiography, Dumb, chronicled her own disability — to trace her journey out of the darkness and into the spotlight. Chong now expresses her art through singing, stand-up, drumming, running, and dancing. This graphic novel is an inspirational tale and a powerful work of graphic medicine.
PRAISE
"Together Chong and Webber create a comics language that paradoxically communicates sightlessness through drawing. ... The result is a unique comics document of visceral embodiment." — The New York Times
"A stunning graphic memoir. Chong brings her story to light in a way as beautiful as it is memorable." — Bitch Media
"The dance between their [Chong and Webber's] styles illustrates how artists with differing experiences and abilities can partner to make art that's elevated by the experiment." — Publishers Weekly
"A prime example of the graphic medicine genre, which illustrates medical conditions, often through lived experience, this work is engaging and informative but never feels teachy or preachy." — Library Journal
"[Chong and Webber's] achievement underscores the message from advocates on behalf of those with disabilities — focus on what people can do, not what they can't." — Toronto Star