Michelle Garcia is an illustrator, designer, first generation American and Latina. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, MA) and her AA from Orange Coast College (Costa Mesa, CA). She currently lives in New York City. 

Growing up in the Los Angeles metro I was extremely privileged and fortunate to have had access to affordable art programs that supported my curiosity around painting, drawing, culture and personal history. I’ve built my art practice around the idea that people do not have to be passive participants in an unjust racial system, but can create a racial reality in which everyone belongs. I strongly believe that racist ideals, laws, social hierarchies and traditions cannot prosper when people resist them and deconstruct them as empty ideas.

MGARCIAILLUSTRATION@GMAIL.COM

Clients

The New York Times
The Atlantic
Politico
ProPublica
Vera Institute of Justice
PEN America
The Baffler Magazine
Oxford American
Data & Society Research Institute
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc
Texas Monthly Magazine
Flaunt Magazine

Awards + Honors

The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles
3x3 Illustration Annual
Stephen D. Paine Scholarship Award

Press

Michelle Garcia Dismantles the Empty Ideals of Racism and Social Hierarchy
Feature in Adbusters Magazine #141 — New Ways To Live, Love and Think

My second illustration for @theatlantic depicts the stories characters moment of escape, sprinting across a field under a reddish sky. To me this scene symbolizes their pursuit of a fleeting dream of normalcy and freedom. Thanks again to AD @gabypes
New illustration commissioned for @theatlantic , accompanying @jaredilemus ’ “Saint Dismas.” The illo portrays the intense moments of deception and survival within the story, where characters resort to creating false checkpoints to
I've always liked the unseen beginnings of my illustrations. Trying something new, I imported my colored pencil underdrawing – typically a blueprint for refining – into Procreate. Instead of painting a base of colors and transferring my l
really big ginkgo
Swipe for details ✏️🌹 @clinicneighbors followed Tabu, a Catholic woman from South Asia, who felt called to join a community of religious sisters in the United States, but has faced numerous roadblocks in her immigration case. 🛑 I was not aware that
Originally intended to compensate Black Americans for historical discrimination, Affirmative Action instead came to be justified under a mantra of diversity—effectively co-opting its benefits for whites—and leaving it to rest on a rickety
The Diversity Compromise 👩🏾‍🎓 spot for @politico
New illo for @politico “How White People Stole Affirmative Action — and Ensured Its Demise. If elite colleges owned up to their racism, the Supreme Court might rule differently.” I created a beat-up, low effort looking poster, the
“Pre-sentence incarceration is known to people in jail as “bullpen therapy.” It’s an experience designed to break the spirit and make the accused person willing to accept his fate. After 452 days of waiting in cells … I