Daphne Lam

I'm an illustration & design undergraduate based in Hanoi. I draw inspiration from dreams and explorations of the self, femininity, sensuality and human vulnerability. My approach is to experiment with different styles, techniques, mediums and find a way to either tie them up harmoniously into one piece or draw a stark contrast between them.

• illustrations
• graphic design
• game design
• other works

I dreamt myself entering a virtual reality far away from the waking world, where I met Loretta - a beautiful glowing fairy. She signaled me to sit down by her on the picnic blanket she neatly put down on the soft fluffy ground by the beach.
I suppose in this dreamscape of mine, I was her long-awaited fairy lover. I could feel it as she caressed my cheek with the powder puff in her hand. She was doing my makeup, I felt pretty. Pampered. Safe. We were delicate like our little wings, like flower petals in the midst of thorns.
My eyes gazed afar to the cherry-tinted sky. Heart-shaped sun and peachy sparkles. There was fluffy hair for sand, soft and cool to the touch. Like cotton candy, I melted through as I touch it, and it melted through me.
I could feel unfeeling eyes spectating us from outside of the server, like curious yet silent kids peering into a snow globe. I knew I wouldn't be here for long, but the cold storming rain and the ever so silent watching eyes of strangers in the real world couldn't bother us one bit.
Everything felt like a warm, blissful embrace.

This artwork is inspired by the song Skin Walker by Zheani. According to Navajo culture, a skin-walker is a type of witch who has the ability to turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as an animal, so I attempted to visualize the menacing and chaotic energy of the song as well as the experience of encountering a skin-walker. She is seen a sickly pale yet seductive feminine figure dancing while morphing herself into a fiery wolf as she successfully lured the prey - the observer of the artwork, into her trap. I interpreted the energy of the piece as feminine wrath, one that is a powerful reaction to injustice caused on the feminine being and her fallen sisters. Anger hurts, and yet it is the powerful drive that caused the witch to stand up and fight back.