Transforming Ink into Illustrations
Duke’s Matt Trower translates behavioral science research into art
Name: Matt TrowerPosition: Comic artist and illustrator, Center for Advanced HindsightYears at Duke: 3
What I do at Duke: I make drawings that help explain research to people who aren’t scientists, so that might take the form of a series of videos that have professor Dan Ariely’s voice talking and then my illustrations with a little animation explain different experiments. I’m also starting to work on a graphic novel that’s about his research. Some of his popular research is about social norms and market norms and how people behave differently whether they’re thinking about people or they’re thinking about money.
My first ever job: In middle school, I would do portraits of people’s dogs and sell them for like $50.
My dream job: Working on my own graphic novels independently. That’s something I do in my spare time, but it’s a very time-intensive process, so it would be very difficult to make that happen. I do have a series. It’s called “Rem.” It’s kind of like a fantasy adventure thing that is symbolic of queer and trans experiences. I started that about when I went to college. I’m working on the third issue now.
If I had $5 million, I would: set $4 million aside to donate to different charities for LGBT people every year. I guess the remaining $1 million would probably just fund my life so I could do that dream job.
If someone wanted to start a conversation with me they should ask me about: the organization I volunteer for, which is called QORDS, and it’s a summer camp near Greensboro for queer and trans kids and kids of LGBT families. That takes up a lot of my time. Last year, I was a counselor and I also taught a comics workshop.
The best advice I ever received: was from a professor in college. He told me to make work that is really important to you and resonates with you and people will be drawn to that because they’ll be able to sense it comes from the heart.
What I love about Duke: It can be really hard to find a job related to illustration or comics right out of undergrad. It’s valuable to me that I’m doing something challenging and that’s related to what I was studying.
If I could have one superpower, it would be: flight. It’s just a classic choice.
Something most people don’t know about me: In high school, I competed in indoor rock climbing for four years, and that was a really big part of my life. I went to national competitions. Now I just do it for fun.
A book I like is: My favorite graphic novel of all time is called “Gaylord Phoenix,” and it’s by an artist named Edie Fake. It’s about queer and trans experiences but in a more abstract way. It’s like a fantastical adventure.