“The Meadow: Reimagining the Cultural Heart is an editorial project that explores participatory methodologies and collective experiences, born from a shared desire to rethink the role and meaning of the Cămin Cultural (Cultural heart) in contemporary Romanian rural life.

The book is one outcome of three years of research, interventions, and collaborations carried out in Fundata, a village where the local Cămin Cultural has been transformed into a vibrant space for dialogue, community reconnection, mutual learning, permission, and shared imagination. The Meadow invites a collective re-thinking of how culture can be understood and lived today—as a living, inclusive process open to everyone.The project was initiated by Irina Botea Bucan and Jon Dean and is co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN).”

My role in this richly layered project was to design the cover illustration and create every interior drawing that accompanies the texts.

As the project's dedicated illustrator, I designed the cover and produced every interior drawing using traditional ink and nib on paper techniques. Collaborating across multiple authors brought immense joy: diving deeply into their personal stories, discovering unifying threads amid varied experiences, and capturing the subtle nuances that create an inviting, warm atmosphere of openness and connection. Meeting these wonderful individuals and earning the privilege to visually translate their thoughts and reflections was profoundly rewarding.

This project also marked a personal discovery — deepening my fascination with abstract-schematic approaches to illustration. By employing intuitive, non-literal forms, I aim to guide the viewer's gaze and thought toward the core message with clarity and empathy, without sacrificing poetic subtlety or emotional resonance.