“My illustrations are inspired by my childhood memories, Slavic folklore, everyday life and our country’s USSR past. I was born in 1990 in Mogilev, Belarus, and I’m very nostalgic about that period and my hometown,” Margarita outlines her artistic background. “Plus, I’m influenced by Eastern European nature, our villages, pagan traditions and urban legends that are basically like “creepypasta” stories for kids, which were very popular in the 80s and 90s. Since I was a small child, I was a storyteller and had the ability to see mystical and the strange in everything. Now that I live in Milan, I use this gift to return home in my illustrations,” she zooms in on her creative process.
“A keen eye will recognise the architecture, plants, decorative objects, clothes and characters that belong to a typical 90s/00s ex-USSR town. At the same time, I like to mix them with modern fashion that is also inspired by that period and pop elements that belong to different cultures,” concludes Margarita.
List of artworks, from left to right, from the top to the bottom.
1/ Fashion Killers from Outer Space – characters wearing Balenciaga.
2/ Paris – characters wearing Louis Vuitton.
3/ She Sells Sea Shells – characters wearing Balenciaga.
4/ Summer Camp – One girl hated her summer camp so much that when she grew up, she returned and burnt it down, wearing Prada.
5/ Pharmaceutical Fairy
6/ Friday Party
7/ The First of September – One cat-boy didn’t want to go to school on the first of September. So he and his sister burnt it down (nobody was inside).
8/ Bad Trip – When you are tired of holidays in Europe and decide to visit a Belarusian province but everything goes wrong. The taxi driver is suddenly dead and strange heads are flying above you.
9/ Autumn Time Sadness
10/ The Toad Princess – wears a vintage dress and gucci accessories.
11/ Cabbage Soup
12/ Art School
13/ Relatives from the Village – One boy went to the supermarket. Suddenly, he saw two strange girls and a flying head in front of him. He didn’t knew but they were his relatives from the village who came to Minsk to study design at the Belarusian State Academy of Art. The flying head was the brother of the two girls, lost at sea many years ago but still protecting them as a spirit.
14/ Evil Fighters
15/ Evening
16/ Smoking Cat
17/ Pulp Springs – characters wearing Balenciaga.
