She / Her | Pisces | 20

My name is Aaliyah Lachel’e Merrick. I’m a 20 year old artist and illustrator from the South Suburbs of Chicago.

I find inspiration in the spaces (and faces) around me, and look to tell the stories of myself and my peers. I aim to create work that bridges the gap between fantasy and reality. I want to bring magic into our everyday lives, and I want to do it in full color.

I make work for the little black girls who had rainbow box-braids and Twenty-One-Pilots T-shirts. I make work for the kids who read so much fan-fiction that modern romance novels just don’t do it for them anymore. I make work for the brown nerds who never got to see themselves on TV, or in comic books, or anywhere else but in the mirror.

Representation matters, and we deserve to see ourselves illustrated as authentically as possible.

• I’m into magical realism, science-fiction, cosmic horror, psychological thrillers, and medieval fantasy.

• My favorite color is pink and I love my little sister.