10 Questions with Benedetta Bellemo

Benedetta Bellemo is an Italian artist and illustrator based in Paris. She works across editorial, children’s books and mural art, exploring womanhood and everyday life with a touch of irony. Her distinctive style, which uses bold shapes and limited colour palettes, also nods to the more conceptually led Polish and Soviet children's illustration of the 50s and 60s, that blended surreal elements with colourful playfulness. Alongside her practice, she is also the official AOI representative for France – creating spaces where artists can connect, share approaches and speak honestly about the realities of creative work.

Banner Image: Diary of a climate and political catastrophe (2023)

 

Could you define the approach or philosophy of your work? 

I like to draw strong, ironic characters in surreal worlds that feel a bit off. There’s often this sense of displacement or quiet unease but always mixed with humour. Irony and cheekiness are really the core of my work, sometimes in a light way, sometimes darker. I’m very drawn to the contrast between colourful, playful images and themes that are actually quite deep or uncomfortable, especially around womanhood, power and vulnerability.

Above: Sisterhood (2024)

Which piece of work or project have you learned the most from and why?

The project I learned the most from was my latest commission for a French feminist collective, who asked me to create illustrations for protest merchandise to raise funds against gender-based violence. It was intense, challenging and incredibly exciting at the same time. Feminist imagery is often very bold and aggressive, and I wanted my work to be just as strong but expressed through irony, without ever making the fight feel less serious. The images needed to hit emotionally, but also to work on objects that people would actually want to buy and wear. I’m really proud of how it turned out, especially because the project had a real, concrete impact in supporting the struggle for women’s rights.

Above: Calais Pride Parade (2023)

What skills do you think are needed of a good art director and how does it help to improve your work? 

I really appreciate art directors who don’t leave you too much freedom at the beginning. Even if it can be a bit frustrating at first, it’s incredibly helpful to understand straight away what’s already in their head when they commission you. Otherwise you risk developing ideas and sketches that keep clashing with an invisible image you don’t know about yet, and that’s a fight you can never really win. A good art director, for me, is someone who gives clear direction at the start, but then trusts you enough to interpret it in your own way. That balance is what truly helps me improve.

Above: Amours de jeunesse (2023)

'it’s incredibly helpful to understand straight away what’s already in an art director's head when they commission you. Otherwise you risk developing ideas and sketches that keep clashing with an invisible image you don’t know about yet, and that’s a fight you can never really win.'

 

How important is research to your work and why does it matter? 

Research is really at the heart of everything I do, even if, at first glance, my drawings might look quite simple. Behind that simplicity there’s actually a whole world of visual references that has slowly shaped my style. I’m inspired by popular art, like Catholic ex voto wooden tablets, and by textile traditions such as West African appliqué quilting. For character design and colour I often look at Soviet illustration, while my sense of perspective comes a lot from medieval miniatures, especially Persian ones. I’m also deeply influenced by Art Brut, not only visually but for the stories behind it too, which resonate a lot with my own self taught path and give it a deeper meaning. Spending time exploring new visual universes is probably the most important and most invisible part of an illustrator’s life, but it’s what really feeds everything that ends up on the page.

Above: Cibo magazine - Editorial illustration (2025)

'I’m inspired by popular art, like Catholic ex voto wooden tablets, and by textile traditions such as West African appliqué quilting. For character design and colour I often look at Soviet illustration, while my sense of perspective comes a lot from medieval miniatures, especially Persian ones.'

 

Which illustrator alive or dead do you most admire and why? 

If I really had to choose, my favourite illustrators would be two Italians: Fortunato Depero, for his bold use of colour and powerful compositions, and Emanuele Luzzati, for his character design and incredible sense of playfulness. But I’m also deeply influenced by an almost internationally unknown Italian painter from my father’s hometown, Walter Pregnolato. He had this naïve but very dark style, painting poor fishermen with huge eyes and big hands, and his work affected me enormously when I was young. I think that mix of innocence and darkness stayed with me and still echoes in what I do today.

What is one part of your working process that you do well, something you could improve and something you wish you never had to do again?

The part of my process I do best is definitely sketching. I’m usually very quick and clear with my ideas, and art directors often tell me they really appreciate that. What I’d like to improve is drawing animals and natural landscapes. I feel much more comfortable with characters and urban settings, so I tend to stay in that zone and repeat myself a bit. And something I honestly hope I never have to do again is illustrating very technical subjects that leave no space for imagination. I’m grateful for every commission I’ve had, but engineering concepts… I’d be happy not to meet them again. 

What is your favorite film poster and what film do you wish you could have done the poster for?

I absolutely love the posters for Pedro Almodóvar’s older films. They’re so colourful, bold and playful, and they really shaped my visual taste when I was younger. I clearly remember having the poster for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown on my bedroom wall as a teenager, and being completely obsessed with it. If I could choose one film I wish I had designed the poster for, it would definitely be Pippi Longstocking. She’s been my absolute hero since childhood and still is. That mix of freedom, rebellion and tenderness feels very close to my own world.

'If I could choose one film I wish I had designed the poster for, it would definitely be Pippi Longstocking. She’s been my absolute hero since childhood and still is. That mix of freedom, rebellion and tenderness feels very close to my own world.'

 

What film do you recommend to others most often and why? 

As surprising as it may sound, my favourite director of all time is the Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher. I’ve followed her work passionately since the very beginning and watched every single thing she’s made. By a strange and perfect coincidence, she’s also the subject of the article I illustrated for Beneficial Shock! magazine, a moment that really felt like destiny to me. The Wonders and Happy as Lazzaro are my two favourite films, and I recommend them all the time, especially to people outside Italy who may not yet know her work.

Above: Illustration spread for the Journeys and Destinations Issue 

What object from a film do you wish you could own and why?

I would love to own the diary from Nanni Moretti’s Dear Diary, in the hope of finding inside it either the director’s deepest philosophical questions, or more hopefully, some very funny jokes.

The great film critic Roger Ebert described film as an “empathy machine”, suggesting it is a way for us to connect fully with lives and experiences of others that we will never ourselves live. With this in mind, what film have you watched that has had the greatest impact on you emotionally and tell us why if you can?

I think the film that has affected me the most emotionally is Atonement by Joe Wright. More than moving me, it completely devastates me every time I watch it. I feel like it touches something very deep about human nature, about regret, the irreversible consequences of our actions, and also the unbearable role of chance and bad luck in life. There’s a quiet cruelty in how destiny unfolds in that film that will never leave me. ∆