Noa Snir’s gruesomely sweet illustrations retell a classic Hebrew story

Jerusalem-born Noa Snir’s series A Simple Story is inspired by the book of the same title by Nobel Prize laureate writer S.Y Agnon. The story, originally published in Hebrew 50 years ago, tells the tale of a bittersweet romance set at the turn of the century and hones in on the community surrounding it.

Noa’s take on the fable is sweetly sinister and her illustrations depict dark and gruesome details with a nonchalance and quaintness that feels unsettling. Noa’s style has echoes of old Russian fairytales, but her approach is more refined using a palette of just blue, pink, black and white. Leaving the background blank keeps our focus on the action between the characters, where we see a woman giving birth on a table and a man’s head half-filled with water. The series was created for Sipur Pashut bookshop in Tel-Aviv and was presented there as part of its annual Illustration Week events.