First Impressions
Alessandra Maria
The Brooklyn-based artist explores her key influences
What, outside of art, has most influenced your artwork through the years?
Probably fantasy literature. When I was a kid, books like these were my escape from the mundane. Reading expanded my imagination and inspired me to make up all of these wild worlds in my head. I’m currently in the middle of preparing for a solo show, and I started out preparing by asking myself why I started drawing in the first place. And I realised the reason was because when I was young, I wanted an outlet for all these worlds and societies I was creating. In a way, I’m still doing the exact same thing.