2024 Featured Artist
Meet Carolina Rodríguez Fuenmayor
Each year, Clarion West works with a new artist to create an image that is used across the Write-a-thon, on our website, and for the Summer of Science Fiction & Fantasy reading series poster. The poster illustration is custom designed by the artist with their personal interpretation of speculative fiction.
In 2024, we are pleased to feature the work of Carolina Rodríguez Fuenmayor, whose beautiful images you may have seen as part of Grist Magazine’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors campaign.
Carolina is from Bogotá, Colombia, and brings a surreal and atmospheric vibe to the world of editorial illustration. With a special talent for beautiful color palettes and a captivating interplay between negative space and intricate details, her art offers a nuanced tonality that captivates audiences. Growing up immersed in animé, manga, and video game art, Carolina’s inspirations expanded to include the works of James Jean, Andrew Hem, and Fuco Ueda, shaping her distinctive style.
Here’s the beautiful 2024 illustration that Carolina designed! (For those interested in attending the reading series, see here for more information and registration links.)
We asked Carolina a couple of questions about her work:
How did you get started working with Grist?
CRF: “I started working with Grist at the end of 2020 as the illustrator for the cover of their new climate fiction initiative back then, happy to have been able to work for them years after on the same project!”
What’s the inspiration behind your art for Clarion West?
CRF: “Initially, I thought about it considering that it would be a poster that somehow would inspire writers and other creatives, so I wanted to reflect with the image much of who I am as an artist too. It’s a poster for the summer, so I wanted the image to feel vibrant, almost as if one could feel a sunny day on their shoulders, all this using elements that remind me of past images with Grist magazine, the colors, and the vegetation.”
This year has brought together so many passions for our entire team, including the focus on positive and more inclusive futures — and Carolina’s visually stunning piece helps tie it all together.
Make sure to follow her on Instagram, Prints, and IllustrationX.