Blossom
bloom
/bluːm/ noun
The flower of a plant.
Flowers collectively: The bloom of the cherry tree. State of having the buds opened: The gardens are all in bloom.
A flourishing, prospering condition.
To bloom, blooming, bloomed. What does “bloom” mean to you?
BLOSSOM is the accumulation of work from 30 artists from around the world who were asked what the word “bloom” means for them.
1/3 of revenues earned from BLOSSOM will be donated to @REDCOMUNITARIATRANS, a community-based organization led by transgender women that work to defend the rights of trans people in Colombia. During the last six years, they have worked hand in hand with trans women who are victims of the armed conflict, deprived of liberty, homeless people, sex workers and drug users.
Many thanks to all the artists who contributed their work, to ANDI, DARCY, NINA, and ANNABELLE for helping BLOSSOM come to life, to HELDA and BRAD for their continuous support, and to the MARTHA PORTER BOSCHEN FOUNDATION who believed in and funded part of this project.
BOOK DESIGNERS: S LISTER-HERNANDEZ & PAIGE HANSERD
EDITORS: S LISTER-HERNANDEZ & ANNABELLE THERESA KUHM
PATTERN DESIGN OF FRONT & BACK COVER BY PM
Artists contact info + bios in alphabetical order:
Aguacero - She/Her @aguacerito0o
From: Bogotá, Colombia
Lives: Bogotá, Colombia
Bio: Artista visual, animadora, ilustradora, pintora y fanzinera. Creyente en los poderes del agua y su capacidad de ser portal hacia los mundos de ensueño donde prefiero escapar. Amante de Shakira y Miguél Bosé en tiempos de lágrimas.
Raisa Alava - She/Her @raisalava
From: Ayala
Lives: Bilbao, Spain
Bio: N/A
Chaz Aracil / Aza - They/Them (trans/ NonBinary/two-spirit) @azamorxx / @chaz_aracil
From: Houston, TX (grew up in RI)
Lives: Houston, TX
Bio: Chaz Aracil / AZA is a designer, visual and performance artist. Aracil creates through a range of mediums, materials, and practices presented on different platforms. Their work discovers a balance between both digital fabrication and human hand. They draw inspiration from nature, gender expression and their mixed Mexican cultural background.
LEE BULLITT @mooodyblack
lee.bullitt@me.com
www.hereisleebullitt.com
From: Harlem, NY
Lives: Brooklyn, NY
Bio: Lee’s photographs have been displayed at numerous exhibits, (most notably Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Queens Museum, and Woman Made Gallery) and has been featured on Afropunk, Dazed Digital, Portbox, After Ellen, and GO Magazine.
Kyle Canyon @kyle_canyon
From: Newport, RI USA
Lives: Newport, RI USA
Bio: Kyle Canyon is a freelance illustrator and comic artist based in Newport, Rhode Island. Using digital illustration techniques Canyon’s work explores themes of humor, hypotheticals, and overdramatic emotions. The artist invents surreal worlds and anthropomorphic characters to archive personal experiences and ephemeral emotions. Kyle’s work has been published by Colorama, Kus!, and Wobby magazine.
Coco Latex - They/them @Cocolatex_tattoo
Cocolatextattoo@gmail.com
From: Sycamore, Illinois
Lives: Brooklyn, New York
Bio: Over the past couple years has been focused on feminizing masculine imagery and showing the strength of softness. My work is my experience and though we all see things through our own lenses, our experiences can feel shared. 2022 is a shifting year for my work as I step towards Eco Futurism, the metallic form and the future of fetishism.
Irene Fernandez Arcas @irene_f_arcas
From: Granada, Spain
Lives: Berlin, Germany
Bio: Irene Fernández Arcas is an interdisciplinary artist born in Grana, Spain. She is Based between Berlin and the Mediterranean context. She studied Journalism in Málaga and Fine Arts in Berlin. Her work has been shown in Spain, Portugal and Germany, and in Berlin most recently at Galerie Wedding, Sammlung Haubrok, Kühlhaus Berlin, THE FAIREST - Blake and Vargas Gallery, The Institute of Endotic Research, and Galerie im Turm.
She creates installations, combining drawings, paintings, photography, texts and performative rituals. In her work, she explores new conceptions of spirituality and the healing powers of art. Her practice embraces experiments and ongoing research into domestic rituals, self-care, and the process of art making itself.
Momo Gordon - They/them
@slippypeach
slippyandtheiremail@gmail.com
From: Wiesbaden, Germany
Lives: Portland, OR
Bio: Momo is an interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon. Their work focuses on the emotional landscape; exploring sentient spaces, hostile architecture, and the anthropomorphization of materials.
Paula Grenouille - She/her @paulagrenouille
paugrenouille@gmail.com
From: Barcelona, Spain
Lives: Barcelona, Spain
Bio: Estudié bellas artes en la ub y actualmente dibujo y tatúo. entiendo mi práctica como un juego el cual nunca se como acabará :-)
Anna Hoffman - She/her
@annahofm_nn
hi@hofmannanna.com
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Lives: Frankfurt, Germany
Dana Kearley - She/they
@danakearley
From: Vancouver, Canada
Lives: Vancouver, Canada
Bio: My name is Dana Kearley. (b. August 8, 1987) My pronouns are she/they. I am a chronically ill and disabled artist and illustrator. My work explores the complexities and nuances of living in a sick and disabled body while playfully exploring colour, texture, shape, light and shadow.
Annabelle Theresa Kuhm - They/she @not_buff_enuff
annabelletheresa.kuhm@gmail.com
I draw to understand and explore what I can’t grasp with pure thought. My fascination for human interaction in everyday life has led me to my studies in cultural and gender studies. Over the last years I’ve been heavily influenced by science fiction as well various illustrators whose brilliant ideas help me to question what seems to be normality. They inspire me to visually propose other ways of living and creating together. My main fields of work are tattoo, illustration, as well as playful pedagogical scenarios for collaborative learning.
Clare Lewis - She/Her @clarelewlew
clare.alexandra.lewis@gmail.com
From: West Yorkshire, UK
Lives: London, UK
Bio: Soft, squishy and tender… that’s how I like my artwork. Working instinctively, I play with textures, blending marks to smudge an image together. There is a layer of humour to my work, focussing in on those everyday moments and characterising inanimate objects, household pests or the rosy cheeked baby on the train.
S Lister-Hernández @obscuredself
slisterhernandez.com
From: mother’s womb & stardust
Lives: nowhere and everywhere but I live mostly in the virtual world
Bio: N/A
Stefhany Y. Lozano - She/Her @stefhanyylozano
From: Bogota, Colombia
Lives: Leipzig, Germany
Bio: Stefhany is a Colombian Artist and Illustrator based in Germany.
She's been working as a freelance illustrator for more than 6 years now and have worked with clients like the New York Times, Le monde Diplomatique, Zeit Magazine and Refinery 29.
She has illustrated 2 books: Der Gefühlsmensch a novel published by Faber und Faber selected into the long list of the most beautiful books in Germany in 2019 and The No.1 Birdtailing Detective Agency a children's book, selected for “Best Book Design from all over the World” competition and “Book Art International“ exhibition 2021 published by OAZA
As an artist she has had the opportunity to show her work in over 20 galleries and art spaces all over the world.
Lony Mathis - she/her @_lony_mathis
From: Vienna
Lives: Vienna
Bio: Lony Mathis is an Vienna-based illustrator. She was born in 1991 and grew up in a small village at the border between Austria and Italy. After graduating from school, she moved to Hamburg to study illustration. During her studies, she majorly experimented with digital painting media and created her distinctive style. After finishing her studies, she now works as a freelance illustrator for clients in the magazine, advertising and fashion industry.
Kaja Meyer - She/her @_kajameyer_
From: Denmark
Lives: Hamburg, Germany
Bio: Kaja Meyer, born 1994 in Denmark, is a visual artist working in a series of mostly paintings and drawings focused on relations. Relations between individuals, groups, humans and animals, different components of nature among themselves. Whatever the motive, it always comes down to feelings and moments.
Nina Muro - She/her @nninamuro
From: Madrid, Spain
Lives: Berlin, Germany
Bio: N/A
Amy Palmer, MOONSIE @pigratdog
pigratdog@gmail.com
www.pigratdog.com
www.themoonpire.com
From: USA
Lives: Austin, TX
Bio: Amy Palmer is a conceptual artist known for her work in painting, illustration and photography. She resides in Austin, TX & Portsmouth, NH. She is known in the NFT community as Moonsie.
Daniela Restrepo @darares_93
From: Bogotá, Colombia
Lives: Bogotá, Colombia
Bio: Illustrator, muralist and artist based in Bogotá Colombia, inspired by very marked aesthetics, such as the old classic animated cartoons, characters used in old advertisements and the underground graphic of the bizarre and dark.
Sophia Prieto - She/Her @sophiaprieto.v
sophiaprietov@gmail.com
From: Bogotá, Colombia
Lives: Bogotá, Colombia
Bio: Artista Plástica de la Universidad Nacional enfocada en las artes gráficas y la ilustración, con interés en temas de misterio como el terror y los crímenes.
Kitty Short - She/Her/They @kittyshortsh
kittyshort.illustration@gmial.com
From: North Wales
Lives: Leeds
Bio: I’m interested in how making informed by experience can allow the personal to cross realms into the magical. Using emblems and childish motifs, my work takes a post-diary formation that homes my drawings somewhere between private and public. Over lockdown I began thinking about magic portals, journeying, and the supernatural comforts these ideas can provide. A quest where we collect tokens of hope, befriend insects and look for small pleasures. These days my practice revolves around these values of positivity and creating a web of calm for myself and others.
Alexandra Šliková - She/Her @pu.uf
www.alexandraslikova.tumblr.com
From: Pilsen, Czechia
Lives: Prague, Czechia
Bio: Student at UMPRUM in Prague, focuses on graphic design, as well as its overlaps in illustration and work with fabrics, where she's interested in sewing objects and author‘s embroidery. She has exhibited at the Lustr Festival in Prague and as a graphic designer works primarily for the cultural scene.
Gaja Vičič - she/her @happyplantsberlin / @gajavicic
From: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Lives: Berlin, Germany
Bio: I like to understand myself as a Gardener. I design and trim graphical gardens, make rugs inspired by the jungle and cultivate inner and outer gardens full of juicy passionate vines. My gardens want to be colorful, deep, abstract, soft, absorbing, energizing, prospering, kinetic and always changing. // I am a graphic designer with big love for plants and fluffy things. I like to make images and tufted rugs inspired by plants healing energy and their unique growth patterns. My designs create energetic patterns and translate plant’s aesthetic qualities while taking them further into dreamy realms.
Oasis of Hate (Anna) - She/her @oasis_of_hate
From: Poland
Lives: Poland, Kraków
Bio: Oasis of Hate is an alias of Polish illustrator and comic artist Anna V. Currently she is based in Kraków, Poland. Anna specializes in black&white manga inspired artwork. Lately she started to explore possibilities of 3D graphics. Her work is inspired by current times we live in, presented as tragedy mixed with comedy. Oasis of hate serves as a stage for the dark cabaret of Anna's imagination.
Nico Wilting - They/he @Babysbabybaby
Babysbabytattoos@gmail.com
From: Treaty 7 territory/Calgary Alberta canada
Lives: Tiotia:ke / Montréal Québec Canada
Bio: Nico is a trans non binary multidisciplinary artist based in Tiotiake better known as Montréal where they also tattoo and work. They mostly do illustrations and draw flash but have created video work, ceramics, installations, paintings, prints, air bushed clothes and more. Nico is inspired by cartoons, anime, video games, illustration and typography from the 60s and 70s as well as many contemporary artists in and out of his community. He hopes to travel to Europe, Australia, Korea and return to the USA in the future to tattoo & visit friends.
Weishan Yang - she/they @mass_97_
From: China
Lives: UK
Bio: Weishan Yang is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. Yang’s work explores the form and mass of the body. Drawing inspirations from aesthetics of horror fiction, Yang’s digital drawings depict ghost-like biomorphic forms that delineate transformation and instability, evoking living forms and organisms.
Madiza Zalewa - She/her
@zalevajka
From: Toruń, Poland
Lives: Prague, Czech Republic
Bio: I’m a Prague-based interdisciplinary artist, yoga teacher and amateur baker. Currently an intern at Entrance gallery, an artistic space that focuses on the issues of ecological sustainability and care for the environment, and student of Fine Art Experimental Media at Prague City University.
Inka Zivana Torvund - She/They
@oceanpebble
inkaleontine@gmail.com
From: Jæren, Norway
Lives: Oslo, Norway
Bio: I’m a comic artist, born 1989. My artworks are like drawing out poetry to me, and a place where I ask existential questions. Kind of like building a closed off dreamy reality where feelings and ideas can be explored both by me and others. As a mental health advocate and a non-binary queer artist these are also some of the themes appearing in my work. My art has been published in Norwegian and international anthologies and shown in exhibitions in several different countries. I have self published three zines and one within a collaborative project. Currently I am working on a graphic novel to be published later this year in Norway hopefully.
Thank you to @el_laboratoriofloral and @faberfranco for taking these beautiful photos of our book!
FONTS USED: SPORTING GROTESQUE by LUCAS LE BIHAN & KOHINOOR BANGLA PAPER: POP SET IVORY 120GRS
200 copies printed in offset in Bogotá, Colombia May 7th, 2022