We were lucky to catch up with Taarika John recently and have shared our conversation below.
Taarika, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work on a dream project with the United Nations. The UN Human Rights Office was launching a global campaign for International Migrants Day, amplifying the stories of migrants through an animated video series. We created 14 animated short films, each one telling the personal story of undocumented persons around the world. My role was to help visualize, storyboard and illustrate each video.
This was such an important project for me in so many ways. Each story was a window into a different person’s life and their journeys, experiences, memories, and families left behind. It gave me the opportunity to work with storytelling and illustration together, which was a rewarding experience. I felt privileged to play a small role in giving voice to the stories of others and sharing them with the world.
Professionally it was also an incredible learning experience for me. It was the first time I was working with such a large team of diverse professionals across different cities and time zones, and it taught me a lot about managing time, schedules, and good communication.
The project spanned several months, with tight deadlines – sometimes creating an entire video from start to finish within a week – and I had to learn to juggle multiple things efficiently simultaneously. Creatively too, this project challenged me to learn new things and improve my existing skills. A lot of research went into drawing different ethnicities, ages, and genders, identifying the little details that make a place or person recognizable, and finding ways to visualize abstract emotions. I still use so many skills today that I honed during that project. It allowed me to connect with others and create work I am proud of.
Taarika, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Like most artists, I’ve been drawing and writing stories for as long as I can remember. My mother would bring home huge sheets of paper from the office so I could draw on them. I drew portraits of family and friends and made little cards for birthdays and special occasions, embellishing each with a little logo on the back that read “Taarika John Productions.” Looking back now, I suppose I should’ve seen the signs of what I wanted to do much earlier than I did.
After high school, I attended college to study graphic design. I liked using images and words to communicate ideas, so this seemed the obvious subject to major in. My time in college taught me creative problem-solving, how to think better, and how to write better – it expanded my mind. It also made me realize I did not want to be a full-time graphic designer.
I had started working freelance jobs during my free time in college, but the jobs coming my way were illustration-based. I was creating personal projects and sharing them online to surprisingly positive reactions. People reached out to me asking to purchase prints, and I couldn’t believe someone wanted to pay actual money for something I made just for the joy of it.
I knew by then that illustration was my path, but I didn’t have the experience or the courage at the time to throw myself into it completely. Instead, I used my graphic design degree to work several different jobs – I’ve worked in advertising, events, publications, and art direction. These jobs allowed me to (barely) pay my bills while working freelance illustration jobs in my spare time.
It took years of juggling several jobs, multiple detours, and very little free time before I could finally call myself a full-time illustrator and believe it. I finally had enough illustration commissions coming my way that I no longer needed to take up graphic design jobs to pay the bills. I was still poor and struggling, but the fact that I could support myself being an illustrator meant something to me.
Since then, I’ve continued to work on client and personal projects. I started my online business to sell my art on products. I also moved to New York in 2019 to pursue my MFA. I’ve been focusing on long-form comics and illustrated novellas in my creative practice. I’ve also been writing more than ever in recent years, finally allowing myself the confidence to acknowledge myself as both writer and artist. I’m excited to explore how my art practice and writing can come together in new ways.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I have been enchanted by storytelling my entire life. Bedtime stories were a daily event, and much of my childhood was spent in the library reading everything I could to satiate my unrelenting curiosity. Growing up in India, I read a lot of Western literature – stories of blue-eyed, sandy-haired children whose adventures I longed to join in. I loved the journeys they took me on but found it hard to feel like I belonged in them.
Years later, I watched a TED talk by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie titled The Danger Of A Single Story. “The problem with the single story,” she says, “is that it creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” Her experiences resonated with me deeply, and I remembered similar moments from my childhood – drawing portraits of my family with brown hair (blond seemed a bit of a stretch), yearning for friends with exotic names like Julian and like Adichie, having a desperate desire to taste this mysterious ginger beer.
My pursuit of Illustration practice, writing, making comics, keeping sketchbooks, and moving to New York for my MFA – every step has been motivated by my love for stories.
I want to tell the big stories of legends, myths, and world-changing events. But I’m also fascinated by the small stories – neighborhood ghost stories our cook would tell us, surreal tales by my grandmother, and family anecdotes. Daily life fascinates me, moments of monotony and routine – we often have more in common with the strangers around us than we realize, and stories can sometimes bridge that gap. I believe stories have power and are the most accessible way to communicate, share ideas, and find empathy for others.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Essentially, all the work that I create is, in a very selfish way, for me. Sometimes they are stories others tell me. Other times they are my own; sometimes, they’re a combination of both. I feel compelled to tell certain stories and document certain images – they play on a loop in the back of my mind, and I cannot rest until I’ve found a way to put those stories out into the world. So I find it incredibly rewarding and humbling when other people connect with my work. When they see themselves and people they know, recognize something, or resonate with a moment – it always amazes me how we are all wonderfully unique and different, but we also have so much in common. We all experience love, joy, heartbreak, grief, anxiety, and loss – and in this sense, I believe stories can connect us, bring us together, and create community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://taarikajohn.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taarikajohnart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taarikajohnart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taarikajohn/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Taarika
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaarikaJohnShop https://taarikajohnshop.com/
Image Credits
Bio Photo and Profile 01 & Profile 02 – Photographer: Benjamin Schreibman All other images credited to Taarika John