Displacement: A Travelogue

"Displacement," often meaning the water pushed aside by a boat's hull, here alludes to lives pushed aside by aging and senescence, as well as a traveler's dislocation. When her beloved ninetysomething grandparents sign up for a cruise, twentysomething Knisley (Relish; An Age of License) signs on as caretaker. The sobering and eye-opening experience includes washing the "accidents" out of grandfather's pants, keeping her dementia-stricken grandmother on track, coordinating multiple medications, and shepherding the pair through complicated routines such as airport security. Although feeling overwhelmed and hiding her terror and heartbreak, Knisley admires the couple's spunk and determines to give them a good time despite their limitations and the simpleminded shipboard entertainments. Her limpid watercolors convey the tropical light, undulating ocean, and superficial gaiety of cruise ambiance, serving as ironic counterpoint to the gravity of her responsibilities and emotions. In one panel, a nasty toothed gremlin representing the horror of infirmity and death sits on her shoulder.