Trigger Warning: self-harm, depression.
Her short comic below, “Pure Indulgence” also deals with dark themes. Be forewarned this comic deals with mental health and suicidal ideations. I find it troubling, but I also know other people have been there. Regarding her work, and her motivation to not participate in self-harm, Hayley is quoted:
“What drives me forward is the hope that things might get better. And what keeps me alive is the hope involved in making comics. This is what I want to give to the world, and I don’t want to give up on that. And that’s my hope in life.”
The Suicide Helpline – Dial 988
Self Harm Crisis Line
988 Lifeline
For more of Hayley Gold’s work, check out Nervosa, now on sale:
Unflinchingly honest and darkly humorous, Nervosa is a graphic memoir about disordered eating, chronic illness, and a profound relationship with hope.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. It is not a phase, a fad, or a choice. It is a debilitating illness, manifested in a distorted relationship with food, but which actually has more to do with issues of control. It is often a puzzle for doctors, therapists, parents, and friends. And so those who suffer from it are belittled, or tragically misunderstood, not only by society but by the healthcare system meant to treat it.
Nervosa is a no-holds-barred, richly textured portrait of one young woman’s experience. In her vividly imagined retelling, Hayley Gold lays bare a callous medical system seemingly disinterested in the very patients it is supposed to treat. And traces how her own life was irrevocably damaged by both the system and her own disorder. With brutal honesty and witty sarcastic humor, Gold offers a remarkably candid exploration of the search for hope in the darkness.
Hayley Gold is a comic book writer and artist. She studied cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her first graphic novel, Letters to Margaret, published in 2021, is an exploration of culture wards through crossword puzzles and humor. Her work has been published in such anthologies as The Strumpet and World War 3 Illustrated. Hayley lives in New York City. She loves rabbits and the color cobalt blue.
