'Refugee' The year is 2120. We are now forced to leave our home, planet Earth. No refugee wants to leave their home but that's necessary when it is the only way to survive. Earth is now a hostile environment due to human behavior. There are no more borders, we are all earthlings and refugees looking for a new place to call home. This is a possible scenario for the future. Maybe not in 100 years from now but it could come to that at some point unfortunately. My illustration has two meanings. One is about how we treat our planet and the second is regarding refugees. We could all be a refugee in the future so think twice before you judge.

I envisioned a future where gender is now irrelevant. Colors usually associated with 'typical' gender roles are used on the two front characters, while the third one is a mix of the two. The three characters also share the same genderless look and attributes. I wanted their composition to evoke the shape of a club.

'Ambassadors from different countries are admitted to the residence of the king' — one of the values of the 5 hearts that I found. This metaphor can mean the need for humanity to accept distinct life forms as equal or even superior. What if in the future, artificial intelligence will develop the capacity for empathy and love? How will they see the difference in the level of consciousness between humanity, the animal and plant world, and themselves. And what will they feel about it? Perhaps the roles may change.

Historically, the seven of diamonds is a neutral card and associated with negotiation. When thinking about the future, my mind went straight to our relationship with the digital and how I fear we will eventually have to make a deal with ourselves, to stop the digital from taking over. Times like the ones we are currently living through show us the incredible power of technology, but with the rise of voice activation and self serving tech, we are at risk of being seduced and losing the human touch.

It is said that cats symbolize fortune, power and good luck; they were also the original Internet stars. That is why these mystical creatures are purrrfect for the 8 of Diamonds, the fame and fortune card that represents powerful individuals. In the future, this cat overlord will continue to dominate the Internet, occupy our time, and collect billions of clicks while cashing in on partnerships with the tech giants. Beware of the bringers of fortune as they can also carry bad luck and hold many dark secrets.

Natural mental humanity — the name of my art work, which reveals a code of the idea. I hope that the world 100 years from now will be more natural and humanity will become wiser. Although many of us can not imagine the future without modern technologies and robotics, the situation nowadays makes me feel that the way of survival is humaneness and close connection with our environment. My work is a symbol of this idea: human's communication with human, keeping our surroundings green, clean and safe, finding more time for ourselves and living in harmony with nature.

Mankind has received smoke signals and felt the damage of climate change yet still is turning a blind eye. The other side depicts Jack the Astronaut in search of refuge in the outer reaches of space. Retaining the upside down duality was a nod to the traditional format and to help convey the concept of the present and the future. Visually I wanted this Jack of Diamonds to feel like a propulsion into the future and hopefully the reality isn’t as bleak as my concept!

The image tells a story about a king that rules a kingdom inside his own head, as all of us do. For these endings he must find a balance between his heart and mind. The medieval castle is a critic against nowadays, as a suggestion that at the same time we are evolving on technology matters we are (many times) making the same old mistakes in history that our ancestors committed.