Between Memory and Myth: The Poetic Illustrations of Glenda Sburelin

Italian illustrator Glenda Sburelin creates poetic, otherworldly images that feel suspended between dream and memory. With a background in advertising graphics and photography, she brings a cinematic sense of composition and color into her work, often layering metaphor and symbolism to tell stories that extend beyond the page.

Working with traditional mediums like acrylic, inks, watercolor and gouache, sometimes enhanced digitally, Glenda’s illustrations balance delicacy with intensity. Figures often emerge from landscapes or dissolve into patterns of flora and light, suggesting that inner worlds and outer nature are deeply intertwined.

Glenda has illustrated around fifty children’s books with publishers across Italy and beyond, and her work has been showcased internationally, from the Bologna Children’s Book Fair to exhibitions in Taiwan and Chicago. Today, alongside her personal and commercial projects, she teaches at the Stepan Zavrel International School of Illustration in Sarmede, inspiring new generations of visual storytellers.

You can explore more of Glenda Sburelin’s illustrations on her website and Instagram.

More illustrations via Illustration Zone