As we’ve covered thus far, MoCCA Fest 2025 has some amazing creators exhibiting at the event. In this one, we speak with Kriota Willberg, an artist who focuses on healing through graphic medicine.
A cartoonist with decades of experience as both a massage therapist and educator, Kriota is hosting the Drawing Bodies: Chloé Wary & Lale Westvind panel at 3 PM on Saturday. She is also the author of the book Draw Stronger: Self-Care for Cartoonists & Other Visual Artists, a guide to injury prevention for cartoonists, and is reknown for being the artist-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine.
Check out our interview below and come out to MoCCA fest if any of this interests you!
CHRISTIAN ANGELES: Thanks for doing this Kriota! First and foremost, can you tell people who you are and what you’re best known for?
KRIOTA WILLBERG: I’m a cartoonist specializing in graphic medicine, which are comics that explore any areas that are essentially a continuum of health, the body, healthcare, public health, medicine, physical biases (like racism, gender bigotry, ageism, etc.), and death. I also am a freelance medical illustrator. I was a massage therapist/health science educator for over 30 years, so now I combine my clinical and artistic experiences to introduce the arts and sciences to scientists and artists at different conferences and universities.
Mixing my day job with my comics practice is making me enough of an “expert” to have been Artist in Residence for the New York Academy of Medicine Historical Library, the Humanistic Medicine Department at the Grossman School of Medicine at NYU Langone, and for the Center to Advance Palliative Care. I also teach graphic medicine and drawing to medical students and art students. These are my dream jobs!
In the arts and comics communities, I’m best known for my self-care book for artists, Draw Stronger (Uncivilized Books), which has been a popular resource for artists globally. My self-published work includes the Ignatz-nominated comic Silver Wire, which was added to the BCALA and ALA Black Lives Matter Reading List.
Some of my other comics have appeared in: Awesome Possum Volume 3 (Angela Boyle), Meandering Realms (Filipa Estrala), SubCultures (9 th Art Press), Comics for Choice (Silver Sprocket), The Graphic Canon (Seven Stories Press), Intima: Journal of Narrative Medicine, and Strumpet 5, among others. And I’m also working on a memoir called Muscle Memories that will be published by Fantagraphic Books in 2026.
ANGELES: That’s a large body of work! Alright what do you have in store for us at MoCCA specifically?
WILLBERG: I’m tabling at MoCCA Fest with my spouse, R. Sikoryak. We’ll be selling our published and self-published comics, so if you’re curious to see what we’re known for and the work we’re interested in and experimenting with in-progress, come by and visit us!
Also, I will be moderating a panel called Drawing Bodies: Chloé Wary & Lale Westvind, with those cartoonists, on Saturday the 15th at 3 PM. Because I have such a history with drawing bodies and graphic medicine comics, I’m often asked to moderate panels on bodies, artists’ self-care, and graphic medicine. They’re always so interesting and fun for me.
And, speaking of my comics-in-progress, I teach a drawing class in a cadaver lab. This dream job inspired me to make Muscle Memories, a philosophical, occasionally explicit, and sometimes poignant and funny graphic memoir about childhood, anatomy, death, dying, healthcare, art, food, and relationships. For artists, healthcare workers, scientists, and scholars, the study of actual human bodies affects how we perceive the dead and gives us context for reflection on the deaths of others and ourselves. For me, every living creature has an anatomical identity. For many, anatomy is not only an area of scientific knowledge and technical specificity, it’s a lifestyle!
As I said earlier, Fantagraphics Books will be publishing the full graphic memoir in 2026. Right now, if people are curious and want a little preview before they buy the book when it comes out, I’ll be selling some minicomic “episodes” of a few book chapters in progress. I’ve received a lot of praise for them and for the full book draft!
ANGELES: That’s awesome! Sounds like it’s going to be a great book to be. Alright, what’s something you’re looking forward to about this year’s festival, personally?
WILLBERG: MoCCA Fest is always lots of fun! I always enjoy browsing through all the tables, visiting panels, and seeing Bob (R. Sikoryak) presenting his Carousel comics slideshow with a bunch of really fantastic cartoonists at MoCCA. I’m looking forward to going to the Society of Illustrators Party during MoCCA Fest and seeing who will win a MoCCA Award.
And speaking of Carousel, Bob curates and presents at least 4 comics slide shows per year. Some at performance venues in New York City, and some at different comics festivals. No matter where they are, they are always displaying very talented artists! So, obviously, the MoCCA Carousel will be exceptionally great.
Later this year, I’m excited to see Muscle Memories come out from Fantagraphics, which is obvious. I’m also very much looking forward to R. Sikoryak’s next book about the Declaration of Independence, to be published by Drawn and Quarterly.
ANGELES: Sounds like it’s going to be a good event. So I’ve been asking folks, what to you, is your favorite thing about MoCCA Fest?
WILLBERG: I’m grateful to have a venue accepting my application as well as a very dynamic range of tabling cartoonists and publishers. The comics on display include an incredible range of cartooning/artistic styles and media. Graphic memoir topics range from explorations of personal experiences of childhood, parenthood, gender, race, age, health, professions, dying, and more. There are also fantastic fictitious, educational, and humorous works. Plus, we can all browse through and purchase works from publishers and independent cartoonists. Their works can be anything from books, to comics, to minicomics, to stickers, posters, T-shirts, and more! I love the dynamics of comics expression. I learn so much every year at MoCCA!
ANGELES: And finally, why do you think indie comics so important right now?
WILLBERG: Indie comics are so important because there are a number of extremely talented comics makers that haven’t yet entered the commercial world. So, experiencing the works of indie cartoonists gives us all a chance to: find people who share unique experiences; see how they’ve printed up visually evocative works; explore their comics that can contribute a deeply inspiring promotion of equity; and locate a cartoonist who shares your unique sense of humor.
The indie comics scene can help us all learn about the human experience, politics, culture, equity, and new trends in education and entertainment. I feel that indie cartoonists are the foundation of our future culture.
Kriota Willberg will be at table 122 with R. Sikoryak at MoCCA ‘25. If you’d like to attend New York’s MoCCA Fest 2025 click here.
For more of our coverage of MoCCA 2025 click here.
Thanks for all the coverage, Christian!
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