In this photo taken on January 20, 2024 a tourist poses in front of incense sticks drying in a courtyard in the village of Quang Phu Cau on the outskirts of Hanoi. Families living and working in the “incense village” of Quang Phu Cau now also make sticks in yellow, blue and green, catering to visitors eager to snap shots for Instagram. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

Ukrainian soldiers from the assault brigade inflict fire damage with a 120 mm mortar while supporting the assault operations of the infantry on April 19, 2024 in Ukraine. The country's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has warned its allies that if more military aid for Ukraine is not approved soon, such as the long-stalled aid package from the United States, it could usher in a “Third World War”. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

A reveler attends the “Volta, Alice” celebrations before Rio Carnival, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17 February 2019. The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro runs from 02 to 09 March 2019. (Photo by António Lacerda/EPA/EFE)

A security man keeps guard during Malawi's President elect Arthur Peter Mutharika swearing in ceremony at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on May 28, 2019, after a contentious election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-rigging. The Malawi Electoral Commission announced on Monday that Mutharika, who heads the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had narrowly won last week's vote after an injunction barring the release of the results was lifted. (Photo by Amos Gumulira/AFP Photo)

Buyan, a male Siberian brown bear, cools down under a stream of water sprayed by an employee in an enclosure on a hot summer day, at the Royev Ruchey zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 14, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Gymnast Simone Biles performs a flip after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game Two of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

A plane belonging to U.S. missionary group Agape Flights burns after it was set on fire during protests demanding that the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry do more to address gang violence including constant kidnappings, in Les Cayes, Haiti on March 29, 2022. (Photo by Duples Plymouth/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)