About the Artist: Lucía Román

Lucía Román at the launch of Issue X. © 2025 Zlata Kurochka

Lucía Román • She/her • Creator of “Traitor”

I love to express big emotions in my drawings, such as passion and deepness. I believe this drawing captures perfectly a state of vulnerability; trusting someone with your whole body only to be stabbed in the back, to be hurt … but staying there for the love, the passion, the happiness it might embracing them might bring. The Issue X theme “Blood” is very attached to the human body, and I loved conveying such intense emotions in two bodies that are expressing so much while also not showing their faces. One may feel connected to the art in a variety of ways, giving this piece new meaning with each viewer, which I find amazing (I’ve been showing this drawing to my friends and it’s so fun to see their different interpretations!). I personally get inspired not only by bright colors and feelings, but also by the expressionism movement, since art history has been my passion for ages. I have been drawing since I can remember, and it has always been a way for me to express what I find bigger than words.

Lucía also kindly contributed the header illustrations for Issue X’s titles, as well as a heart animation for the bottom of the page. Unfourtunately we were unable to use the beating heart due to time constraints. Still, it’s too beautiful not to share; view both below.