The act of creation takes on a multiplicity of forms. In our ongoing artist interview series, we illuminate the distinctive artistic practices, influences, and creative challenges of our Pew Fellows, who represent a diversity of perspectives and creative disciplines.

In this installment, visual artist Mark Thomas Gibson and multidisciplinary artist Alex Smith discuss why they’re both drawn to comic art, their open-ended creative processes, and the ethical, political, and historical questions they consider in their work.

Gibson’s paintings, collages, prints, caricatures, graphic novels, and other works chronicle race, class, and contemporary American culture with a historian’s eye on the past. Smith is a speculative fiction writer, collage artist, and musician who draws from influences like science fiction, Dadaism, and comic art.