![A graphic highlights the cover of the comic "Long [COVID] Story Short". It features an illustration of a Black woman in a robe with her arms outstretched looking at the viewer. A purple and pink background add visual interest. It reads, "Long COVID Story Short" by Peace Waters and Dimitrea Tokunbo"](https://i0.wp.com/thesicktimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/1-1.png?resize=1024%2C640&ssl=1)
I have always been someone who regulates and processes my experiences by making art. So when both my partner and I developed Long COVID, I did what I always do: I drew.
However, in an age where visual artists need to continuously advertise on social media, I quickly figured out that when I shared art about the ongoing pandemic or Long COVID, I lost followers and my business suffered. My life before 2020 has all but melted away, replaced by the daily navigation of terrifying symptoms, disability, and a newfound awareness of the stark lack of accessibility and care available for people with complex chronic conditions.
Sharing my experiences with Long COVID is all too often met with disbelief and disengagement, whether it’s from my peers, community, or family. Unsurprisingly, this is not a unique experience — and it ultimately makes the artists who continue to make art about COVID-19 all the more important and inspiring to me.
Illustrators who bravely explore the ongoing pandemic in their work break down stereotypes, contextualize differing experiences, build community, and raise awareness. These artists create spaces where audiences can reflect and engage with stories that can broaden our understanding of ourselves and the world. In this way, art is not only a community-building tool, but also functions as a “mirror”: for those who struggle to look directly at the elephant in the room, they can engage with its reflection.
Over the past six years, I have felt a deep sense of community with artists who are making art about COVID-19. They are daring not only to look at the elephant in the room, but study it and share what they have seen with others. Their work has helped me process how drastically Long COVID has altered the course of my life, helped me feel less alone, and inspired me to share my own Long COVID–related illustrations and comics. But more than anything, these artists have helped me remember that my life is valuable and worth protecting.
These artists create spaces where audiences can reflect and engage with stories that can broaden our understanding of ourselves and the world. In this way, art is not only a community-building tool, but also functions as a “mirror”: for those who struggle to look directly at the elephant in the room, they can engage with its reflection.
Grae Salisbury
Peace Waters and Dimitrea Tokunbo
Peace Waters and Dimitrea Tokunbo are a family duo known for their recently released zine Long [COVID] Story Short. Waters is an interdisciplinary artist raised in Brooklyn, and Tokunbo is a cartoonist, poet, researcher, and teacher. Waters and Tokunbo’s zine about Long COVID is expressive and tender in the ways it raises awareness and educates audiences on the seriousness of our global health crisis.
Stories that explore post-COVID conditions and health impacts are very meaningful to those like me who are navigating these conditions. One page in Long [COVID] Story Short depicts the protagonist as she slowly sinks into her bed in a dark room, while attempting to access medical assistance, medication, and education on her laptop. This portrayal of so much energy spent on self-advocacy and learning, when there is so little energy to give, is one of the most sobering and relatable illustrations I have seen this past year. This page of the zine also features the care work often done by chronically ill and disabled online communities, which I loved, as my partner and I have benefited from these communities’ assistance over the years.
Peace Waters’ Instagram and Substack. Dimitrea Tokunbo’s Instagram and website.
Emma Kim Rust
Emma Kim Rust is a cartoonist, illustrator, and zine maker. Rust’s comics are warm and intimate, and their heavy linework gives a visual weight to their stories. Their comic Living in Love (pictured above) prompts viewers to question the harmful stereotype that those who continue to mask are overly anxious. The protagonist instead consciously chooses to mask in order to protect their health, those around them, and vulnerable communities. Rust’s Why I Mask series continues this exploration, with illustrations of masked people accompanied by why they mask in their own words; their reasons include disease mitigation, anti-fascism, and community care.
Emma Kim Rust’s Instagram and website.
Charlie, @doodlesbycharlie_
Charlie is a queer, disabled comic artist who creates with the hope that their work will help others feel seen amid the broadly ignored COVID-19 pandemic. Charlie’s cute and simplistic drawings of shapes give an anonymity to their characters, making it easy to recognize one’s own experiences within the stories they tell. I have found Charlie’s exploration of COVID-related grief and anger not only relatable but healing. Their comics call out the hypocrisy of society’s denial of COVID-19, explore pathogen mitigation tactics, and give me a space to feel many complex and difficult emotions that come from being someone who continues to mask during the ongoing pandemic.
Charlie’s Instagram and Bluesky.
Radical Birding
Self-described as “your favorite masked bird watcher,” Radical Birding is a chronically ill artist whose illustrations are tender and thoughtful. She recently put together a 2026 calendar of her work called “Masking is Love in Action.”
Radical Birding’s work makes me think of a time earlier in 2025, before I received a Long COVID diagnosis, when I had to have surgery. Without paperwork to classify myself as “high-risk,” I was very anxious to ask my surgical team to wear N95s, as my previous requests in other healthcare facilities were met with resistance. At this difficult moment, a piece by Radical Birding came to mind: an illustration of a person holding up a prism with the words, “The binary of vulnerable or not is a myth. We all need protection.” This piece really helped me find the courage I needed to ask my medical team to wear respirators.
Radical Birding’s Instagram.
Sheyam Ghieth
Known for her graphics and design work on television series including Ramy and Orange Is the New Black, Sheyam Ghieth also contributed illustrations to the 2024 zine Mask Up, We Need You: Palestinian Solidarity, COVID-19, and the Struggle For Liberation. This educational zine explores how pandemics are used as a tool of colonization, why Long COVID has not had more coverage in the media, safety and mitigation practices, and so much more. I see this zine regularly on the resource table at masked events I attend, and there are always fewer left by the time I leave!
Sheyam Ghieth’s Instagram and website.
Courn Ahn
Courn Ahn is a disabled Korean American multidisciplinary designer and illustrator who uses their lived experiences as inspiration for their work. Ahn’s illustrations are colorful, educational, and simply very fun to look at. Their blocky, bubbly style showcases how fun learning, political engagement, and living by your values can be. Even their lettering is expressive, while remaining clear and legible. Their website’s shop features a variety of stickers, pins, posters, and other kinds of merch that depict masked faces and center disability.
Courn Ahn’s Instagram and website.
Dylan, @Kitten.Cowboy
Dylan is a queer and trans artist who creates educational and approachable illustrations that explore their experience as a disabled person. Dylan’s short comics and illustrations just make me want to squeal from cuteness overload! Their work has a retro style that is modernized by poppy, vibrant color palettes. Dylan’s content ranges from fluffy and celebratory to thoughtful and even darkly comedic, all while helping me feel less alone during the ongoing pandemic. They sell mask chains, zines, stickers, prints, and more on their online shop.
Dylan’s Instagram and Linktree.
Hazel Newlevant
Hazel Newlevant is a cartoonist who also works as an associate editor for Lion Forge Comics. You might recognize their free zine What’s Up with COVID and How to Protect Yourself. The zine explores common COVID-19 safety misconceptions, such as those related to COVID-19’s severity and the value of social distancing. The zine helps readers learn how to keep up with COVID-19 data and find masks that fit, and includes information on other safety mitigation strategies. Although the zine is short, it is chock-full of QR codes that redirect readers to helpful resources.
Hazel Newlevant’s Instagram and website.
Grae Salisbury (they/them) is a chronically ill illustrator, graphic designer, and tattoo artist. They are currently working on a long-form comic called Still Sick that explores their experience caring for their partner, who was disabled by Long COVID in March 2020, while they gradually developed Long COVID themself. You can explore their work on their website and their Instagram accounts @getting_sicker and @graesalisburystudios.
All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.
![A graphic highlights the cover of the comic "Long [COVID] Story Short". It features an illustration of a Black woman in a robe with her arms outstretched looking at the viewer. A purple and pink background add visual interest. It reads, "Long COVID Story Short" by Peace Waters and Dimitrea Tokunbo"](https://i0.wp.com/thesicktimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/1-1.png?fit=300%2C188&ssl=1)
