Innovative Extinction

Matt Wood is an illustrator and the co-founder of the cooperative animation team Bad Idea Motion Studios.   

Wood’s Zócalo Sketchbook imagines “what nature might look like if it insisted on innovating itself to extinction.” The series was inspired by OpenAI’s release of Sora, a way to generate photorealistic video sequences based on text prompts, earlier this year. 

“As a creative, it chilled me to my core,” Wood says. “When I saw where we are headed, I thought, Why are we so addicted to relentless innovation? Why are we absolutely determined to ‘improve’ …

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Shapes of Spring

Tirth Katrodia is an Indian illustrator and visual artist based in London. His studio is called Yatra, which means journey in Sanskrit.

For his Zócalo Sketchbook, Katrodia brings us a vibrant burst of springtime energy. …

Don’t Close the Curtains on Kenya’s Acrobats

They Fly Through the Air and Build Human Pyramids to Tourists’ Delight. But the Performers Struggle for Recognition and Financial Stability

It’s showtime at one of Kenya’s five-star resort hotels.

Tourists from around the world move in small groups to the performance area next to the pool to see the evening’s headliner: …

Stocking up for the Season

Kadi Franson is an interdisciplinary artist and licensed architect who focuses on ecological resilience in the Anthropocene. Based in Southern Utah, she is also an amateur naturalist and nature columnist …

tktk | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Inkblot Explosion

June Glasson is an artist, illustrator, designer, and teacher who lives in Millbrook, New York. A co-founder of the Wyoming Art Party, her practice is a marriage of the work she …

Blooming Smiles

Keiko Nabila Yamazaki is a Japanese Indonesian illustrator based in New York City. She specializes in vibrant and whimsical illustration, reminiscent of the Western and Japanese cartoons she watched as …