AT NIGHT

PERSONAL PROJECT and award

MY IDEA

I’ve long wanted to tell the story of what happens at night.

Night is another world—one that has been told a thousand times in many different ways. During sleep—at least for those who do sleep—it’s a kind of surrender, a crossing over, even if only for a few hours. And for those who can’t sleep, it remains a strange place, where time no longer follows the rules we know…

The story unfolds in an intimate way, circling back gently into the life of the protagonist—ending with a quiet, beautiful truth about himself.

I greatly enjoyed creating the two illustrations for Maize Magazine, which were inspired by the thoughts of Professor Lorenzo Magnani. The project is still a work in progress, but the storytelling is complete. The contest recognizes it in the children’s book category.

So, I revisited the character and developed it further, thinking that, due to its nature, the Night somehow belonged to it. I focused on studying its movement, making it my own, and imagining its story. It doesn’t have a name yet, but I know where it lives. The building I depict next to the Moon in the upcoming illustrations is the one I live in—a place very dear to me.

The illustrations are digital collage.

I deeply love stories that come from within, because true changes happen only in depth. All my work increasingly aims to tell those changes in an engaging and at the same time foundational way, so that we can rewrite our “inner mythologies.”

Every one of my projects undergoes a long gestation, in contrast to our world, which craves easy, consumable products. I hope that what I create is not easily “consumable” but can be enjoyed multiple times and reveals something new each time it is seen.

THE AWARD

It is with great pride that I announce that I am among the winners of the 11th Hiiibrand Illustration Contest, in the category of unpublished children’s book projects. I participated with my personal project, At Night.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place on December 14th, 2024, at the Sky Culture and Art Center in Hangzhou, China.