Birthe Janssens

Birthe Janssens is an illustrator who graduated from Sint-Lucas Antwerp in 2020. Since then, she has had a residency at Knustpress and exhibitions at Grafixx and the Bologna childrens book fair, among others.

She is not an 'Englishman in New York', but she is a 'Kempenaar' in Antwerp. That combination of the city and the countryside, the graphic and the loose line, the ordered and the chaotic, are always reflected in the images she puts on paper. Her use of bright colours, soft textures, complex compositions and an (un)healthy dose of humour are typical to her style. In her illustrations, she likes to play with distortion, both of her characters and their surroundings. Her oeuvre is a constant search for the playful and a tribute to cheerfulness.