Born in 2001 in Monroe, Michigan, Aurora Reynolds grew up in a tiny cottage on the shore of Lake Erie with their eccentric pagan mother. Their Disney-obsessed grandparents lived next door. An only child until the age of eight, Reynolds grew up isolated from other children. They were never lonely though: they knew that there were faeries in the trees and nixies in the water.

However once they began school, the word that consistently stuck to them throughout their educational career, was “weird”. Other children’s mothers weren’t witches. Other children didn’t watch the Japanese movies that they watched. They didn’t read the same stories. Reynolds heard the way other children whispered about them, and they began to scream. As an angry teenager, Reynolds wore their strangeness as a kind of war paint.

The thing about growing up as a sad, strange little girl, is that a part of you will always remain as a sad, strange little girl. These days, Reynolds makes art for the weird kids of the world. The anger and isolation of their adolescence informs their work as much as the fairy tales of their childhood in the countryside.

Reynolds previously studied fine art at Monroe County Community College where they served as Co-President of the Art Club. They are currently an illustration student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.