Handmaidens

This powerful illustration accompanied The Times Book Review article, “What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in the Age of Trump,” published March 10, 2017. Margaret Atwood, author of more than 20 works of fiction, including “The Handmaid’s Tale,” wrote the article and artist Eleni Kalorkoti came up with an appropriately haunting image about messages being suppressed behind a wall.

Illustrations have played an instrumental role in The Times’s journalistic legacy since December 11, 1861, when we published our first drawings – front page cartoons of James Gordon Bennett, rival publisher of The Herald. Today, The Times commissions thousands of original illustrations from freelance artists around the world. Artists, each with a distinct approach and personality, enhance stories with thought-provoking images that enrich the reading experience.

Eleni Kalorkoti is a freelance illustrator based in London. Her work combines traditional and digital methods, using watercolor, pencil, ink and Photoshop to create graphic yet atmospheric imagery. Eleni’s illustrations are regularly featured in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Guardian. Other clients include Google, Buzzed and TED.