Belarusian schoolchildren, who are members of a pro-government Young Pioneer movement, perform with drums as they take part in a meeting to mark the 95th anniversary of their organisation in Minsk, Belarus May 19, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

An Egyptian horse owner cares for one of his animals at stables in Giza near the capital on May 26, 2024. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo)

Taylor Swift, right, and Brittany Mahomes react during the third quarter of an NFL AFC division playoff football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, January 21, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (Photo by Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

A visitor feeds a food pellet to a giraffe in the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya January 15, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

An artwork called “McJesus”, which was sculpted by Finnish artist Jani Leinonen and depicts a crucified Ronald McDonald, is seen on display as part of the Haifa museum's “Sacred Goods” exhibit, in Haifa, Israel, Monday, January 14, 2019. Hundreds of Christians calling for the sculpture's removal protested at the museum last week. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Julia Lopez Peña, the daughter of slain environmentalist Juan López, poses for a photo with her state-assigned bodyguards at her ninth birthday party in Tocoa, Honduras, December 7, 2024. (Photo by Moises Castillo/AP Photo)

A child dressed in a Santa Claus costume reacts, on the day Palestinian Christians attend an Orthodox Christmas Mass at the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City on January 7, 2025. (Photo by Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)