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InspirationIllustration

Anna Karenina's eerie, Lynch-obsessed portrayals of girlhood

Anna Karenina (not to be confused with the Tolstoy novel) is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer based in São Paulo, Brazil.

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A figure in black lies amid tall forest trees surrounded by small orange creatures with smiling faces, holding a large red flower that appears to be disintegrating

Her work is strange and disquieting, often taking female figures as her subject matter and placing them in scenes that are a mixture of Surrealism, Grimm Fairy Tales and the work of David Lynch.

Her Lynch-love has manifested in a poster tribute to the director’s seminal 1977 body horror film Eraserhead, which borrows from the film’s eerie black and white aesthetic and Lynch’s own approach to warped, almost abstract photographic collaging.

Her sensitive, whirling typographic interrogations quote from probably the film’s most iconic scene, the Lady in the Radiator song: “In heaven, everything is fine…"

Karenina is self-taught, working mostly in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Dark promotional poster for Anna Karenina's Eraserhead tribute featuring stylised typography, surreal geometric figures and the repeated phrase "in heaven everything is fine
Illustration of a woman with dark hair and star markings on her forehead holding two young children against a pink background, all rendered in a peculiar, unsettling style
Hand holding a blue winged figure emerging from a brown paper envelope, surrounded by children's drawings on a pink background
Two-faced girl with black bob hair stands before a large melting pink form, surrounded by a pink flamingo, roses, stars and dripping water on a coral background
Two pink-skinned figures with black hair and wide eyes sit together surrounded by white flowers and golden decorative elements in a surreal, Lynch-inspired illustration
Blue-faced figure with pink hair holding a small pink doll against a gradient background with stars and grid lines
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