All over the world, millions of people wrestle with a wide range of mental health issues – depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and more. Their voices should be heard. Through the Labyrinths of the Mind features 11 comics about mental health by a diverse selection of creators from British Columbia and beyond. Their comics range from starkly honest memoirs to symbolic slice-of-life fiction and even fairy tales, but whatever the genre, all the stories speak truth to their creator’s struggles. Take a walk through their labyrinths and experience both pain and triumph. We honour these people’s courage in confronting their inner demons and remind all of you dealing with mental health issues that you are not alone.

Hybrid events are held in person, you will also be able to watch it live streamed from our Youtube channel.

Location: Room C420, UBC Robson Square

Type: Comics, Panel

Readers: Bevan Thomas, project lead (Cloudscape Comics) | Hannah Myers, co-editor and contributing artist (Cloudscape Comics) | Alina Pete, contributing artist (Cloudscape Comics)

About The Readers

Bevan Thomas is a Vancouver author best known for his involvement with Cloudscape Comics, BC's largest comics collective. He has written for 10 of their anthologies and been an editor on 6, including "Waterlogged," "Mega Fauna," and "Swan Song." Bevan spearheaded the "Epic Canadiana" series of graphic novel anthologies, which pays tribute to the classic Canadian comics of the 1940s and which won Cloudscape the Gene Day Award at the 2016 Joe Shusters. He also created "Through the Labyrinths of the Mind," Cloudscape’s anthology of comics on mental health. Outside of Cloudscape, Bevan's work has appeared in the anthologies "Beyond" and "Superhero Universe: Tesseracts 19," and the magazine "Pulp Literature." In addition, Bevan served on Cloudscape's board for many years, helping the organization to engage aspiring writers and artists with the comic book medium. He teaches writing for comics in Langara College's Graphic Novel & Comix program. Bevan writes in a wide variety of styles, from the humorous to the dramatic, from the magical to the autobiographical. He is especially fascinated by how fantasy and myth can be used to symbolize psychological states to explore issues of mental health, such as depression and anxiety. Among his stories, Bevan has analyzed the depression of one of King Arthur's knights, explored his grief at his grandfather's funeral, and documented society after the Robot Revolution. Bevan lives with his wife and frequent collaborator, the artist Reetta Linjama. To learn more, visit www.bevanthomas.ca.

Hannah is a comic artist, illustrator, decorative artist, and watercolour painter working out of Vancouver, B.C. She edited The Witching Hours in 2019 and co-edited Through The Labyrinths of the Mind in 2020 for Cloudscape Comics. She finds inspiration in comics, nature and fantasy.

Alina Pete (they/them) is a nehiyaw (Cree) artist and writer from Little Pine First Nation in western Saskatchewan. They grew up urban, but spent summers wandering the Qu'Appelle valley with their cousins from Cowessess First Nation. Alina is best known for their Aurora award-winning webcomic, Weregeek (weregeek.com), but they also write short stories, poems and RPG supplements, and their work has been featured in several comic anthologies, including Moonshot Volumes 2 & 3. Alina lives in Surrey with their partner and three very silly parrots who enjoy sitting on their shoulder as they write