Brianna McCarthy is a self-taught artist and children’s book illustrator living in Trinidad and Tobago. A lifelong reader, she spent many as hours as a child in the library and discovering new worlds in her encyclopedia set. Her work is influenced by literature, dreams, the people she meets, and her three older sisters. Brianna loves to make beautiful things that can be enjoyed and to translate a feeling, a thought, an idea or a dream into something more tangible. She enjoys the tactile element of traditional media, and works mostly in ink or gouache/acrylic gouache, as well as paper collage, fabric collage, doll making, mask making and digital art. In her fine art work, she aims to create a new discourse examining issues of beauty, stereotypes, and representation. In her children’s illustrations, Brianna likes to explore the imaginative, fantastical and playful side of her work, and hopes that children will see themselves, their peers or loved ones in her books.
