Q&A with Kruttika Susarla

Originally featured on Graphic Design USA

Bio: Kruttika Susarla is an illustrator and designer from Andhra Pradesh, India, who has worked with political magazines, creative agencies, and advocacy groups in the global south. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and making comics.

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL INSPIRED?

My peers and mentors at school, work that my friends are making, graphic novels at the public library in my city, the internet archive.

IF THERE WERE NO BARRIERS AND CONSTRAINTS, WHAT PROJECT WOULD YOU WANT TO WORK ON?

The story I’m working on right now! My thesis project is a short comic set in the fictional village of Makoi. The Great River—source of all life in the village and the Makoi trees together maintain the balance of this ecosystem.

A firestorm destroys half the Makoi tree population—setting off a chain of events that brings together different communities to work together and repair their home.

WHAT ARE YOU READING/LISTENING TO/WATCHING?

Currently reading: Things We Found During the Autopsy by Kuzhali Manickavel Currently listening: Ayonha by Hamid Al Shaeri Currently re-watching: C/O Kancharapalem by Venkatesh Maha