hello! i’m mallika:

Mallika is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, intending to specialize in museum librarianship, collections management, and materials preservation. Stepping away from commercial design and illustration, she hopes to use this background in art and design to curate accessible and inclusive interfaces that connect diverse communities to information resources in order to facilitate a greater understanding of how we perceive ourselves and our communities.

She received a BFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute, focusing in Illustration with a minor in Cultural Studies. An avid illustrator and writer, she incorporates both real life experiences and fantasy to create vibrant imagery and tell engaging stories. She draws inspiration from her Indian heritage, her love of ancient history and classical mythology from around the world, rhythm and unity in nature, and the fusion of sleek modernity and industrialized classicism found in New York City.

Her work aims to narrate the conflicts she faces in representing her identity through explorations of the binaries in her life, including expressions of gender, contrasts in environments, and the relationship between her cultural roots and her western upbringing, reflecting these concepts through yet another binary - the use of both digital and traditional mediums. This portfolio acts as a record of previous work as she continues to experiment across mediums and fields of study.

Hailing from a town surrounded by orchards and farms right outside Princeton, New Jersey, Mallika now lives in Urbana, Illinois for school, where she splits her free time between rekindling her love for screenprinting, trying to get some exercise, and constantly cleaning her apartment to avoid attracting bugs.