Call For Entry Artwork

About the Artwork

Each year we are proud to the feature the stunning work of a contemporary illustrator on our official Call for Entry poster.

This Year’s Artwork

This year’s wonderful Call for Entry artwork was illustrated by award winning Illustrator and Visual Artist, Marly Gallardo.

©2021 Marly Gallardo

About the Artist

Centering on portrayals of ephemeral sites of belonging, Marly Gallardo’s work is a meditation on impermanence and renewal.

Through her work, Gallardo explores themes such as migration, nostalgia, and yearning. Her pieces reflect the nature of being uprooted from one’s homeland and yearning for a return, whether that return is to a geographical location or an emotive plane.

Gallardo’s art is informed by indigenous craftsmanship, featuring elements of ancestral folklore, spiritual botany, and historical connections to land.

She explores her storytelling through digital media, paint, and sculptural mediums. Throughout her work, she combines soft gradients and diaphanous layers to delicately situate her subjects within shifting, fictional realms. Gallardo utilizes a sentimental palette and deep tonal variants as metaphors for the profound emotional interiority of her subjects. The dream-like quality of her work suspends reality, evoking a search for the surreal within the mundane.

She has won numerous awards for her work. Most recently, Gallardo was named a recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Award. She currently teaches illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and gives guest lectures at universities and conferences.

Gallardo was born in Ecuador and resides between Brooklyn and Mexico City.