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)

A recruitment drive during the First World War at Trafalgar Square, London. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

The brave boy, called Belal and in his early teens, held the young fawn in one hand above his head as he plunged through the surging river to save it. Onlookers watched as the boy waded through the raging river to get to the other side safely. (Photo by Hasib Wahab/Caters News)

“A Balinese man shows off his pride and joy, a fighting cock, while on a cigarette break after a morning’s work in nearby fields”. (Photo by Coltrane Koh/The Guardian)

Charli XCX performs on day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park on July 21, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

A worker throws a cloth during a drying process at Sukoharjo near Solo, Central Java province, Indonesia, April 23, 2019 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Mohammad Ayudha/Antara Foto via Reuters)

Russian model Irina Shayk arrives on September 4, 2022 for the screening of the film “L'Immensita” (Immensity) presented in the Venezia 79 competition as part of the 79th Venice International Film Festival at Lido di Venezia in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)