The first-ever comprehensive retrospective of the work of cartoonist and 2014 MacArthur Fellow Alison Bechdel, “Dykes, Dads, and Moms to Watch Out For,” opened as the inaugural show in a year of “Life Writing” presented by University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities, coinciding with Bechdel’s January 22nd appearance in the Penny Stamps Speaker Series (see video above). Amanda Krugliak, arts curator for the Institute of the Humanities and the exhibit, collaborated closely with Bechdel and Penny Stamps Speaker Series Director Chrisstina Hamilton to create an installation that meanders through a loose chronological line of Bechdel’s life and work.

The exhibition design by Amanda Krugliak mimics the personal spaces in which Bechdel sets much of her everyday dramas. Image courtesy of the UM Institute for the Humanities

Bechdel has long been an alt-culture darling and chronicler of the feminist bookstore scene, in her longstanding self-syndicated comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” (1983-2008), but in recent years she has broken out of the “oppressed minority cartoonist” pigeonhole and come to the forefront of a changing landscape for personal representation—one that Bechdel’s cartoons and criticism were instrumental in reshaping. The 2012 memoir “Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama,” is a deeply personal exploration of why we are who we are, and in 2013, her 2006 graphic memoir “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” was adapted for the stage, in a Public House production that is destined for Broadway in April of 2015.

Students take in the show. Image courtesy of the UM Institute for the Humanities

All this newfound attention from the mainstream doesn’t change Bechdel’s basic approach or self-deprecating style, but it does make it a great time for new fans and old to check out her retrospective, which will be on display through February 25th at the Institute for the Humanities Gallery. Talk about it with your closest girlfriend!

Institute for the Humanities Gallery: 202 S. Thayer, Ann Arbor; 734-936-3518; www.lsa.umich.edu/humanities