A model checks her mobile phone backstage during Kazakhstan Fashion Week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, October 14, 2015. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Kazakh troops march during a parade of the armed forces to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Astana, May 7, 2014. (Photo by Mukhtar Kholdorbekov/Reuters)

A Syrian migrant family enters Hungary at the border with Serbia near Roszke, Hungary August 28, 2015. As Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, Hungary has become, like Italy and Greece, a “frontline” state. So far this year, police say around 141,500 migrants have been intercepted crossing into Hungary, mostly from neighbouring Serbia. (Photo by Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)

Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek visits Pompeii in the second decade of January 2024. (Photo by salmahayek/Instagram)

A poster depicts a disinfection worker in North Korea on May 23, 2022. The COVID outbreak in the isolated country, confirmed about two weeks ago, has stoked concerns about a lack of vaccines and medical supplies, while experts said a nationwide lockdown could deepen a food crisis in the country of 25 million. (Photo by KCNA via Reuters)

Pakistani Waseem Akram, 27, dances during a private party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. By day, Akram sells mobile phone accessories from an alleyway shop in an old neighborhood of this Pakistani city, Thursday, January 15, 2015. Across conservative Pakistan, where Islamic extremists launch near-daily attacks and many follow a strict interpretation of their Muslim faith, male cross-dressers and the transgendered face a challenge of balancing two identities. Some left their villages for the anonymity of a big city, fearing the reactions of their families while still concealing their identity from neighbors and co-workers. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

A 1934 Packard Chassis Coachbuilt Body is displayed during The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, in Carmel, California, U.S. August 19, 2016. The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California, considered the most prestigious event of its kind. It is the finale of Monterey Car Week held in August every year. (Photo by Michael Fiala/Reuters/Courtesy of The Revs Institute)

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)