Flower Power: The modern yet vintage vibes of Carolina Grandinetti

Her cover for The Guardian Weekly centred around the Flower Power movement in Belarus (above) turned many heads last year. It is a great example of Carolina's modern take on art infused with classic, vintage vibes.

"The cover was a challenge because despite being an illustration of female empowerment as I usually create, there was a solid political background involved," she tells us. "My inspiration came from the real images of those women claiming their freedom."

"Andrew Stocks, The Guardian Weekly's art director, asked me to do something 'poetic'. The woman dressed in white visualises a better future, and the white flower and fist holding it are very symbolic. It represents the fight for peace and freedom. The project was amazing, and people in Belarus took my image to the streets, even made graffiti inspired by it. I'm very grateful for all of that."

As the Flower Power project shows, Carolina loves creating images and characters that are empowering, symbolic and bold through the use of a graphic style, negative/positive space, and strong lights and shadows. Her references, as you might guess, are usually old paintings, classic sculptures and vintage posters.

"I also find a lot of beauty in humans and their emotions. My illustrations, in general, convey an emotion, a state of mind. There is usually no clear context or physical space. The fact that they are mostly women responds to my own nature, but I love representing men, too."

Carolina had eclectic training as an artist. After finishing high school, she studied the art of image and sound design for movies, then changed into scenography, costume design and fashion design.

"Then, I took courses in digital illustration and graphic design. I also took painting and art history classes. I've been lucky enough to work in all those areas throughout my life, mainly in costume design. That was until 2016, when I started working for an Argentinian online magazine called Chocha and Illustration became my main profession."

"The wonderful thing about illustration is that it allows me to gather and apply all my past interests, passions and knowledge."

Follow the artist @carolinagrandinetti.