Chopping, folding, eating: Mon Jajaja’s illustrations show the joy that food brings to our lives

Buying groceries, cracking eggs, washing tomatoes, rolling dough or demolishing a bowl of poke: the illustrator Shimeng Jiang – who goes by the artist moniker Mon Jajaja – shows everything that goes into making (and eating) a delicious meal. Keeping things “minimal and simple”, Mon Jajaja aims to present the “aesthetic potential of everyday life”, and the menial tasks and moments that come with it.

Using her sketchbook full of observational drawings to inform her final pieces, she uses a mix of media to capture each scene and foodstuff, a sketchy pencil-lined grocery store, buns made round and plump with gouache, or a juicy tomato, bright red with pastel. Recently, she had a series of works exhibited at Gastronomia Yamamoto in Milan, all demonstrating the links between Chinese and Japanese food.

Mon Jajaja cites the artist Marion Jdanoff as a key influence on her work, especially her use of “vibrant colours and dynamic compositions”. However, she doesn’t only source inspiration from the world of visual art. The author Haruki Murakami’s novels have provided much inspiration for the sensibility of her works, she says: “Their rich exploration of solitude and details of the inner lives of his characters, encourages me to infuse my work with depth and emotional resonance.”