Sofia Mena-Bell is a writer, illustrator, book artist, and paper-based craft designer living in Oakland, California. She studied poetry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received an MFA in creative writing and book art from Mills College in Oakland in 2018. She is interested in writing and illustrating children’s books, making comics and cartoons, making paper crafts and boxes that light up. Her 2018 MFA exhibition, which included handmade toys, moveable and light-up books, wood block and letterpress prints, was an exploration of the beauty and comedy in grief. She is currently working on a zine entitled “Joy Week,” to be released at the end of 2021. She welcomes commissions, sales inquires, and illustration opportunities.
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Artist Statement
I think people are deeply affected by their environment. A space without beauty and laughter is in danger of being occupied by people who don’t seek to interact with beautiful and funny things, in beautiful and funny ways. Spaces shouldn’t be filled, they should be celebrated, this way they might remind us to celebrate whenever, however we can. My goal with all my paper crafts is that they help make a space more beautiful, thus more functional to be lived in, but if I can’t do that I hope that I can at least make you laugh.
Sofia Mena-Bell 