In this critical essay, I have undertaken an analysis of my creative-critical work Ethel and Ernest’s Bedroom Wall which adapts Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel Ethel and Ernest into an illustrative installation. Through the original novel, Briggs’ was able to elevate the lives of his ordinary parents into a glorious celebration of the finite nature of life, turning a loving tribute into a broader examination of vast social transformation and the relative smallness of our own lives within it. To accompany my responsive installation, I have examined the aesthetic and thematic decisions I made in creating my piece, exploring biography as a form of adaptation and how it can alter a lived life into an artistic work by a change of perspective.