Simji Park turns everyday moments into dreamlike vignettes

For Simji Park, inspiration can strike at any moment. “The wind when I’m walking my dog, the leaves moving in the trees, the temperature I feel on my skin” – the list goes on. It could be conversations overheard on a train, a book she is reading, or the feeling of paper when she turns the page. “I especially like the calm, gentle feeling that comes with walking at night,” says Simji. “Being with people I love inspires me a lot too. I think those are the times when I feel most alive.”

Simji’s illustrations are calm, tactile, and impressionistic. Insects, animals and tiny humans scuttle across a patchwork of scenes where nature is ever present. The illustrator chooses her materials intuitively too. Some days it’s pencil or watercolour, other days its oil paints or a digital illustration. “It depends on the idea and the feeling I want the work to have. Sometimes it needs to move and become an animation. Other times, still images are enough.”

These illustrations feel like vignettes from a dream, full of symbols and stories that may hold deeper meanings. “There is usually something I want to say through my work, but sometimes I can’t really explain my own feelings,” the artist explains. “Drawing feels a bit like therapy. When too many feelings build up inside me, making something helps me slowly take them out and give them a form.”