Amina Bouajila’s illustrations flit between reality and limbo in colourful hues

Strasbourg-based illustrator Amina Bouajila creates colourful, contained illustrations, which she mostly prints by hand in silkscreen. As well as editorial commissions for publications like French mags Kiblind and Retard, Amina also self-publishes her projects, fanzines and collaborations with independent publisher Matière Grasse Éditions.

“I grew up close to the ocean, so I naturally like to draw seafood and swimming pools,” says Amina and there’s definitely a summery vibe to her work with vibrant cerulean waters and happy faces appearing throughout her works. The illustrator’s style is neat and confined and this stems from having previously studied graphics before moving onto illustration full time.

Amina’s worlds straddle that fine line between reality and limbo as she plays with perspective and offers up new interpretations of the everyday. In one work we see a pair of legs crumbling like rock into the sea, in another characters mount straws and cigarettes held by giant hands and a miniature swimming pool sits atop a brick wall. To give her cartoon-like drawings some depth, Amina adds texture through a series of dots and and gradients.