Gesticulating Gentrification

A graphic memoir about housing insecurity

Cartoonist and musician Rick Trembles grew up in the suburbs of Montreal, in the house his father, Canadian Golden Age Cartoonist Jack Tremblay (Crash Carson), paid for as a commercial illustrator. Encouraged by his father’s cartooning, inspired by underground comic artists like Robert Crumb, and propelled by the DIY ethos of the burgeoning punk scene, Rick gave in to his own natural drive to create and built a life full of art and music.

But the comics industry had changed since Jack Tremblay found success, and Rick followed his heart into alt-comics. Mainstream cartoonists were already making less money, and alt-comic artists were making even less from their art—if anything at all. When Rick first moved out, he couch-hopped from one messy band rehearsal space to another, finally settling on a small apartment above a pool hall, where he worked on zines and wrote music—until he wasn’t able to make rent. This is just the first stop in a series of insecure housing situations made worse by gentrification.

In Gesticulating Gentrification, Trembles provides a close and honest look at the challenges faced by people living in precarious housing, the constant threat of being forced out by gentrification, and the social and health problems that result from all of it. But this graphic memoir isn’t only about social issues—it also provides a rare glimpse at a bygone version of Montreal and the DIY culture that thrived there.