Bodies of Art, Bodies of Labour by Kate Beaton

Like Beaton addresses, as everything, she is more than a hardworking cartoonist who clearly values and expresses the complexity of perspectives, working-class, and the tragic results of narrow-minded thinking.

Capturing powerful emotions and topics in a way that make the reader feel understood, heard and respected. A love letter to Cape Breton while also depicting the layers all communities behold, Beaton humbly discusses the importance of a support system, the art of being kind to yourself when you need to make difficult decisions, and the value of respecting your self-worth regardless of the financial gain.

A love letter to Cape Breton while also depicting the layers all communities behold, Beaton humbly discusses the importance of a support system, the art of being kind to yourself when you need to make difficult decisions, and the value of respecting your self-worth regardless of the financial gain.

Tackling issues in an impressive way without overwhelming the reader, Bodies of Art, Bodies of Labour perfectly harmonizes the beauty of effort versus creation and how they need to be weaved together to be effective. Self-proclaimed cartoonist who broke barriers, it is clear Beaton’s creative talents don’t stop at caricatures or visual art as they seep into storytelling, writing and much more. She challenges the typical standards of generational wealth, happiness and perseverance in a field that is often underrated. Beaton details how pursuing passion is just as crucial to success as education and practice, all while seeming like a friend you’ve grown up with.

She challenges the typical standards of generational wealth, happiness and perseverance in a field that is often underrated.

Well-researched, well-founded and well written, this piece of work is an important read for everyone from working class to upper class and everyone in between. It sheds light on the darkness that is the system we live in when we don’t try to understand the perspective of our neighbour and beyond. It brings to light the way survey results can be manipulated without blaming the results and while giving us a new way to consider them.

Kate Beaton is a cartoonist and graphic novelist from Nova Scotia. While studying history at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Beaton began writing comics for the student newspaper. Her comics, which combined literature, history, and off-beat humour, became immensely popular online, leading to the publication of two acclaimed comic volumes: Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops!, as well as children’s picture books The Princess and the Pony and King Baby. Beaton’s first graphic memoir, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, received wide acclaim. In addition to being the first graphic narrative to win Canada Reads, Ducks received the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature and the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Memoir, as well as praise from Quill and Quire, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and President Barack Obama. It won the 2024 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. Beaton currently resides in Nova Scotia / Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People, with her husband and two children.

Publisher: University of Alberta Press (February 4, 2025)
Paperback 9″ x 5.25″ | 68 pages
ISBN: 9781772128000

Sarah Butland

Website

I am a struggling artist, a challenging and challenged mother who always thinks she is failing, an emerging freelance writer and reporter, an author with my name on several books crossing genres and always hoping to find more readers who enjoy them.

I am also a successful artist, a wonderful and thriving mother of one, a reacher towards both people and dreams despite all of the turned backs and obstacles in my way. I am a thriving freelance writer and reporter, an author loved by enough readers to make it worthwhile and a discombobulated conundrum who loves to hear new music, tell new tales and meet new authors. And I’m doing something I always dreamed of doing – reviewing books to support others as well as myself and my family.