The work “Breast Cancer Awareness” by Houda Bakkali has been awarded the American Illustration 45 in New York, a competition that annually recognizes the best illustrations in the world and whose jury this edition has been made up of art directors from publications such as The New Yorker; The New York Times Magazine; Rolling Stone; Anthropologie; Axios; The Robb Report; Al Majalla; HarperCollins; Architectural Digest; The Marshall Project; New York Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.
The competition received 6,387 entries, of which 432 have been awarded and will be part of the annual AI-AP publication as well as the exhibition that will be held in New York next November.
Bakkali’s work “Breast Cancer Awareness” is part of this selection that brings together some of the best creatives in the world. A project based on illustration, but which also includes animated, immersive, and interactive versions, and which adds to her work on art, communication, and health, turning her illustration into an interface to promote awareness about breast cancer, to pay tribute to patients, families, and the medical community, as well as a space where creativity and technology come together for the dissemination of health and science.
“It is an honor to receive this award for a work in which I focus on art and technology as a powerful and practical means to help raise awareness and communicate health issues, to facilitate the message through different spaces and media, through the power of art and culture. Also to work on the binomial of creativity and technology with great responsibility, making responsible use of both technology and narrative, their dynamics and particularities. Approaching art as that first visual, emotional, and useful impact that helps us bring the message closer to the public to encourage participation in the dissemination of content that is of interest to everyone, that does not go out of style and that we must address with time, detail, rigor and also with a lot of heart. Innovation must also serve to create real value, beyond aesthetics and technique, beyond the immediacy of discourse and visual impact. Today there are tools and spaces for this, to create with method. So that inspiring and captivating through the canvas brings us closer to other areas of knowledge and to other perspectives of reality. This award is very motivating, above all, receiving recognition from fellow professionals, being close to the best and being part, one more year, of one of the most respected and dynamic creative platforms in the world,” comments Bakkali