Cybernetic Flowers

Sofia Pusa is a multidisciplinary creative director and illustrator based in London.

For her Zócalo Sketchbook, Pusa gives us an array of crisp, cybernetic flowers to herald the arrival of spring. Note her prominent use of solarization—digital extrapolation of a familiar effect in chemical photography, where extreme overexposure leads to a reversal in tone. In Pusa’s flowers, the color shifts are psychedelic and transcendental, giving the plants a distinctly futuristic twist.

Of the Sketchbook, Pusa says, “For me, flowers are not just beautiful living things but have a deeper meaning of hope, inner strength, and …

| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

I Turn Science Into Art

My Textbook Illustrations Help Educate the Next Generation of Biologists, Doctors, and Physicists

I graduated from art school in a muddle. All I’d ever really wanted to do was draw, and I had done so on every sheet of paper that came within …

tktk | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Squirreled Away

Artist and illustrator Giulia Donati works under the moniker Pennepasta. Born in Italy and now based in London, she creates her pieces with calligraphy brush and India ink. For her …

Tropical Divine | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Tropical Divine

Miriam Castillo is an illustrator, graphic designer, and muralist who divides her time between New York City and the Mexican Caribbean.

Castillo draws upon her favorite climate—the tropics—for this month’s Sketchbook. …

Could a Tattoo Cure What Ails You? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Could a Tattoo Cure What Ails You?

Medicine Is an Art. Art, Too, Can Be Medicine

Tattoos and medicine may seem an unlikely pairing, but medical tattoos are nothing new. Religious tattoos of ancient Egyptians honored the gods and, possibly, directed divine healing to ailing body …

| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Void Dwellers

Kethevane Cellard is a Paris-based artist who works primarily with ink drawing and wood. She is renowned for her monochrome, free-floating drawings and sculptures defined by the play of light …