Masha Krasnova Shabaeva

Book review of 'Swallows' by Natsuo Kirino, a story about surrogacy, exploring the injustices of class and gender, tradition and power, in contemporary Japan

'Outside Out' reviewing outdoor theatres

Artwork for Heart's 30th Anniversary book 'What Happened'

To celebrate this milestone, we asked the Artists to create images inspired by a significant event from one year between 1994 and 2025. Some chose to illustrate historical moments or public events, others looked inward, drawing on memories or fleeting personal experiences

Masha created an artwork for 1994; 'Listening to a bootleg copy of Blur's newly released album, Parklife, back in my hometown of Ufa, Russia'

Design for a wool scarf commemorating the opening of Atelier Munro’s new store in Rotterdam. The artwork combines the architecture and people of Rotterdam alongside inspiration taken from the shapes of tailoring

Wool scarf commemorating the opening of Atelier Munro’s new store in Rotterdam. The artwork combines the architecture and people of Rotterdam alongside inspiration taken from the shapes of tailoring

One of a pair of artworks illustrating Rachel Connolly’s experience of psychoanalysis

One of a pair of artworks illustrating Rachel Connolly’s experience of psychoanalysis

'The Most Important Thing I Teach My Students Isn't on the Syllabus' by Frank Bruni

Humility can be a bulwark against arrogance, absolutism, purity and zeal, and an antidote in our age of grievance

'Spotlight on us!'

A society designed for and by men needs to change. Author Stella Bergsma presents the course 'Decentering Men' complete with seven do-it-yourself steps to put women in the spotlight

'Current Calls for Change' 

Nynke Tromp explores how the cultural sector at large can benefit from knowledge sharing, collaboration and connection. She observes how positive undercurrents from the design world surface and make an impact in different parts of the field

Spot artrworks accompanying Nynke Trops article 'Current Calls for Change' 

'Why is it considered to be so bad to want to be good?' Henk Pröpper analyses more deeply what it means to be a good person without mockery and skepticism

In the eyes of the political right, the ‘deugdmens’ (the good person) is a humourless know-it-all, a tiring idealist, an unrealistic do-gooder

'Toothless Idealism' 

Millennials tend to act as if they are not part of the system they want to change

'I would have paid any price for my daughter to be helped'

Swiss child psychiatric clinics are overcrowded with young people sometimes waiting months for a place, causing a lot of suffering at high costs

Accompanying artwork for the article 'I would have paid any price for my daughter to be helped'

Swiss child psychiatric clinics are overcrowded with young people sometimes waiting months for a place, causing a lot of suffering at high costs

Accompanying artwork for the article 'I would have paid any price for my daughter to be helped'

Swiss child psychiatric clinics are overcrowded with young people sometimes waiting months for a place, causing a lot of suffering at high costs

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live
 

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Animated artwork for a large scale interactive Conductive Wall which invites visitors to playfully imagine new futures by playing an interactive game to turn discarded junk into exciting rides in an imaginative amusement park. Artworks are projected onto the wall at all stages of the game - from rail junk through to the animated ‘Wonder State’ fairground that is activated by visitors touching the wall

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Exhibition graphics for the new Wonderlab Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York

Set within a former workshop on the grounds of the National Railway Museum, the Wonderlab gallery has been developed to appeal to children aged 7 to 14. It features 18 interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to think like engineers while using skills and ideas from their everyday live

Label artworks for the Hydrogen Rocket exhibit

Visitors turn one of two handles to pass electricity through the electrodes which splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Pressing the launch button ignites the fuel shooting the rocket upwards

The secondary label (shown on the left) shows that transport can be powered by alternative fuel. Engineers are working towards finding sustainable and alternative ways to power transport as a response to climate change

Illustration for Hydrogen Rocket exhibit

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Label artworks for the Friction Finder exhibit

Visitors experiment with friction by rubbing materials and pulling a brake on a turning wheel. A thermal imaging camera displays the heat that is produced on a screen

The secondary label (shown on the left) provides an example that all moving objects generate friction. The more friction, the more heat. This is something that engineers need to consider with all things that move

Label artworks for the Sandpit exhibit

Visitors move the sand, building it up into mounds, smoothing into flat areas and creating walls. In response to the changing depth of the sand, the projection adapts the landscape. The projection also includes a railway which a train continually travels around and through the landscape. The projected rail infrastructure responds to the landscape forming bridges and tunnels so the train can continue its journey

The secondary label (shown on the left) explains that engineers must account for various factors when navigating a landscape, showing that engineers must constantly adapt to the natural environment

Label artworks for the Ready Aim Angle exhibit

Visitors play a version of air hockey on the table

The secondary label (shown on the left) explains that, as with the air hockey where opponents have to figure out the best angles they must strike the puck, engineers consider maths and geometry when planning rail networks

Illustration for Great Machine exhibit

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Label artworks for the Great Machine exhibit

Illustration for Great Machine exhibit

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Label artworks for the Human Air Tunnel exhibit

Visitors can step into a tunnel of air and feel how easy or hard it is to move depending on the shape they hold

The secondary label (shown on the left) shows when you bike down a hill, gravity pulls you forward and makes you speed up. At the same time, air resistance (drag) pushes back against you

Label artworks for the Marble Run exhibit

Illustration for the Marble Run exhibit

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Label artworks for the Wheels exhibit

Label artworks for the Bridges exhibit

Illustration for the Bridges exhibit

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Label artworks for the Airflow exhibit

Label artworks for the Make It Fly exhibit

Label artworks for the Route Finder exhibit

Route Finder

Photo by David Shaw / Lucienne Roberts+

Book review of 'Seven' a mind-bending novel by Joanna Kavenna - a tale that adds comedy top the author's dizzying speculations on reality

New virtual learning in the classroom

A new research project at the University of Cambridge using 'Palaeo-robots’ to help scientists understand how fish started to walk on land

Inbox study

'When We Consent, We Shouldn't Feel Terrible After, Right?' an Opinion guest essay by Emma Camp

To be sure, consent is a precursor for ethical sex. But, too often, consent education doesn’t teach us how to understand, and learn from, the sex that comes after we say 'yes'

Campaign for the 2024 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation

Artworks used for posters, programs, trailers and social media

Review of the new novels by V. V. Ganeshananthan and Shehan Karunatilaka, who both use the distance of time to dramatise large chunks of Sri Lanka’s recent past

What does 'good food' mean? – looking at thriving food systems and policies around food to create the opportunity to build a stronger, equitable, resilient future for all

Serviette is a new magazine about the themes, ideas, conversations and connectivity around the cycle of food

Women of the Year’ special issue of The Financial Times Weekend magazine

Rebecca Watson, author of the novel 'Little Scratch' reflect on how it feels to be in the company of two great women she admires, publicising the play adaptation of her novel with the director Katie Mitchell and playwrite Miriam Battye

Women of the Year’ special issue of The Financial Times Weekend magazine

'Ana Roš on the triumphs and trials of being one of the world’s best chefs'

Ana Roš is the self taught chef of the double Michelin starred restaurant Hiša Franko in the Slovenian Alps. In 2017 she was named Best Female Chef in the World, which provoked a huge controversy. People complained the award was discriminatory. Roš points out that society as a whole is discriminatory; the male chefs she knows don't have to find time to make family dinners or ferry teenage kids to sports games, or endure the condescension of peers saying, “oh, your food is much better than I thought it would be.” Maybe, she reckons, the award was a way of recognising a particular female struggle

Women of the Year’ special issue of The Financial Times Weekend magazine

This artwork accompanies an article that explores why it’s difficult for survivors to name the perpetrators of assault

‘The Neighbourhood Approach’

Improving the level of electrification infrastructure of cities is often left to individual building owners or individual projects. In order to accelerate the shift and to create economies of scale, there is something to be gained by looking at renovation and development as a collective infrastructure project

Foresight Climate and Energy is a magazine about the global transition to a decarbonised energy economy

'Sit back, relax and calmly get to the travel that awaits'

Campaign for Blacklane chauffeurs

‘How we can connect across cities and borders’ 

Cover for the 70th anniversary edition of Kulturaustausch, a quarterly magazine published by the German foreign office

Cover artwork for the ‘Empowering Cities’ issue

Cities are not seen as key in the energy transition even though they are closest to the citizens they impact. But there’s a whole load of things that cities can do

Foresight Climate and Energy is a magazine about the global transition to a decarbonised energy economy

'Know the Game' campaign about women's volleyball

Book Review of 'Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine' non-fiction book by Anna Della Subin about what happens when men are worshiped, willingly or not, as gods

'Cleanout'

Wraparound cover of issue #25 of Wobby risograph magazine

Ongoing commission to illustrate the biweekly podcast ‘Watt Matters’ published by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy

The podcast focuses on how to achieve renewable energy and thriving cities via policy, regulation, finance and technology

Topics illustrated include low-carbon heating, Russia’s influence in European energy, international energy policies, and the need for holistic approaches to the energy crisis

Ongoing commission to illustrate the biweekly podcast ‘Watt Matters’ published by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy

The podcast focuses on how to achieve renewable energy and thriving cities via policy, regulation, finance and technology

Topics illustrated include low-carbon heating, Russia’s influence in European energy, international energy policies, and the need for holistic approaches to the energy crisis

Ongoing commission to illustrate the biweekly podcast ‘Watt Matters’ published by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy

The podcast focuses on how to achieve renewable energy and thriving cities via policy, regulation, finance and technology

Topics illustrated include low-carbon heating, Russia’s influence in European energy, international energy policies, and the need for holistic approaches to the energy crisis

Ongoing commission to illustrate the biweekly podcast ‘Watt Matters’ published by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy

The podcast focuses on how to achieve renewable energy and thriving cities via policy, regulation, finance and technology

Topics illustrated include low-carbon heating, Russia’s influence in European energy, international energy policies, and the need for holistic approaches to the energy crisis

'What is invisible bisexuality?'

Article by Elisabeth Fleschutz about how they feel as a bisexual, when they're in what's perceived as a heterosexual relationship

‘The Strange Story of Dagobert, the “DuckTales” Bandit’

In the nineties, a frustrated artist in Berlin went on a crime spree – building bombs, extorting high-end stores, and styling his persona after Scrooge McDuck. He soon became a German folk hero

'Silent Reading Clubs'

A growing movement to create spaces where everyone can rediscover the focus needed to engage with words on paper

'This Is Who’s Really Driving the Decline in Interest in Liberal Arts Education' 

The philosopher Jennifer Frey and author of this guest Opinion essay is distressed by reports that students have no appetite to study the traditional liberal arts and that they understand their coursework only as a step toward specific careers

Book cover for 'The Splendid Ticket' published by McSweeney’s

The story centres around Angie Grandet who wins a $324,000,000 lottery jackpot. She chooses to share the winnings with her estranged husband. The book retraces their relationship from the point they first meet

‘Clinical Judgment’ by Aliya Pabanifor McSweeney’s 64: The Audio Issue

Combining art, fiction, audio, and a compendium of print objects in a custom box, McSweeney’s 64 is an ambitious exploration of audiovisual storytelling, coproduced with Radiotopia from PRX. Each piece in the issue establishes its own relationship between audio and print—the contributor’s unique experiment in weaving the mediums

‘Clinical Judgement’ is an audio play about an immigrant from India, living in Canada. He’s a privileged man (a doctor) with many biases and blind spots at the same time. The audio piece presents one side of his story. The 24” x 30” poster art created by Masha complicates and questions the story by presenting other perspectives. The poster provides a point of view, as if out for for dinner with the narrator of the play. What should we think of the narrator? Was he culpable? Is he telling the full story? The ultimate question he asks himself at the end of the piece is “Am I a bad man?” and the poster poses that question too

‘One Thing I Don’t Plan to Do Before I Die Is Make a Bucket List’ by Kate Bowler

‘Digital Twins’

Digital simulations can show how different designs, technologies and equipment affect energy demand pathways

Foresight Climate and Energy is a magazine about the global transition to a decarbonised energy economy

‘Pooling Resources’

Improving the green credentials of the existing housing stock is a difficult path to navigate. Now communities are being empowered to clean up their homes through collective action

Foresight Climate and Energy is a magazine about the global transition to a decarbonised energy economy

Portrait of Martin MacInnes to accompany a review of his book 'In Ascension'

‘Free Your Mind; to be creative you must be open to making connections and to do nothing'

Taking the invention of the post-it note as example, the article challenges many of our beliefs about innovation, creativity, and even genius

‘Study of Two Figures – Dr. Seuss and Chrysanthemum Pearl’

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel created an imaginary daughter named Chrysanthemum-Pearl

‘Study of Two Figures’ is a new sequence of poems by Monica Youn which looks at the links between Theodor Geisel and his alter ego, Dr Seuss, his wife, and their fictitious child – whose name references the symbol of imperial Japan

Second in series of images illustrating a review of ‘Study of Two Figures – Dr. Seus and Chrysanthemum Pearl’ a new sequence of poems by Monica Youn which looks at the links between Theodor Geisel and his alter ego, Dr Seuss, his wife, and their fictitious child (Chrysanthemum-Pearl), whose name references the symbol of imperial Japan

For a review of Matthew Ball's 'The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionise Everything' a comprehensive new book that provides a guide to where the Internet may—or may not—be heading, as well as the work necessary to bring the metaverse to fruition, and what might derail it

Pages from a calendar commissioned by Bebe Books, on the theme of the human body, gender and sexuality

Pages from a calendar commissioned by Bebe Books, on the theme of the human body, gender and sexuality

Pages from a calendar commissioned by Bebe Books, on the theme of the human body, gender and sexuality

'Outside'

Artwork for 'ExtraPlaats 2' printed and published by Knust Press in collaboration with Stichting Plaatsmaken

Ten different artists, illustrators and designers were invited by Knust and Plaatsmaken to work within the boundaries of the Riso and screen printing to create an artwork

Book review of 'Beautyland' by Marie-Helene Bertino - a novel in which an awkward alien reports from earth by fax machine

Colonial Banality, printed by the Print Room, is a personal project, questioning the imperialist, colonial hierarchies of Russian culture

Masha was born and raised in Russia and has been living in The Netherlands since 2009. She grew up in Bashkortostan, a region that joined Russia in the 16th century. Her father was Russian and her mother is Tatar-Bashkir. Bashkirs and Tatars are both Turkic Muslim ethnicities with their own distinct languages and cultures. In this series, Masha focused on the experience of ethnical minorities, which traditionaly hide in the shadow of the mainstream Russian narrative

Colonial Banality, printed by the Print Room, is a personal project, questioning the imperialist, colonial hierarchies of Russian culture

Masha was born and raised in Russia and has been living in The Netherlands since 2009. She grew up in Bashkortostan, a region that joined Russia in the 16th century. Her father was Russian and her mother is Tatar-Bashkir. Bashkirs and Tatars are both Turkic Muslim ethnicities with their own distinct languages and cultures. In this series, Masha focused on the experience of ethnical minorities, which traditionaly hide in the shadow of the mainstream Russian narrative

Colonial Banality, printed by the Print Room, is a personal project, questioning the imperialist, colonial hierarchies of Russian culture

Masha was born and raised in Russia and has been living in The Netherlands since 2009. She grew up in Bashkortostan, a region that joined Russia in the 16th century. Her father was Russian and her mother is Tatar-Bashkir. Bashkirs and Tatars are both Turkic Muslim ethnicities with their own distinct languages and cultures. In this series, Masha focused on the experience of ethnical minorities, which traditionaly hide in the shadow of the mainstream Russian narrative

Colonial Banality, printed by the Print Room, is a personal project, questioning the imperialist, colonial hierarchies of Russian culture

Masha was born and raised in Russia and has been living in The Netherlands since 2009. She grew up in Bashkortostan, a region that joined Russia in the 16th century. Her father was Russian and her mother is Tatar-Bashkir. Bashkirs and Tatars are both Turkic Muslim ethnicities with their own distinct languages and cultures. In this series, Masha focused on the experience of ethnical minorities, which traditionaly hide in the shadow of the mainstream Russian narrative

Self portrait

The arches of Voorburgstraat. One of a pair of spreads for the book 'This is Where You Can Find Me' by Rachel Sender

Invited to contribute to the book, Masha chose to highlight two areas in Bergpolder, a neighbourhood in Rotterdam-Noord where she lives. In doing so she documented unique areas currently undergoing dramatic transformations.

Masha chose to draw Voorburgstraat as it's an area due to be redeveloped. The structures are solid yet transitory and the murals will soon be painted over. Masha's intention was to capture these sites for what they are and what they represent, for the moment

Nest

The arches of Voorburgstraat. One of a pair of spreads for the book 'This is Where You Can Find Me' by Rachel Sender

This spread shows HKT-Blok on Talmastaat in Rotterdam. Built as social housing, this site is set to be converted into luxury apartments that will cost far more than the existing tenants are able to afford. The development company, Vestia, has agreed to add a social housing component to the project in response to protesting residents

A commission by the curators Koehorts in ‘t Veld to create accompanying material for an exhibition about the acclaimed folk artist Jan de Prentenknipper (1798 -1870) at Zeeuws Museum in The Netherlands

Accompanying material for an exhibition about the acclaimed folk artist Jan de Prentenknipper (1798 -1870) at Zeeuws Museum in The Netherlands

The exhibition took place over three galleries at the museum in Middleburg and Masha’s work accompanies the work of the nineteenth-century artist, using mdf cutouts displayed on tables, walls, and hung from the ceiling of the galleries

One of two animations created for the exhibition

Animation for an exhibition about the folk artist Jan de Prentenknipper (1798-1870) at Zeeuws Museum in The Netherlands

The exhibition takes place over three galleries at the museum in Middleburg and Masha's work accompanies the work of the nineteenth-century artist, using mdf cutouts displayed on tables, walls, and hung from the ceiling of galleries

To supplement his meagre income as a traveling labourer, Prentenknipp sold his cutout prints often in exhcnage for a place to sleep. Prentenknipp's cutouts take the form of chiselled images on paper, painted with watercolours and sometimes handwritten texts. His work, which has been preserved by national institutions and private collectors, provides a unique view of the nineteenth century Zeeland world

Accompanying material for an exhibition about the acclaimed folk artist Jan de Prentenknipper (1798 -1870) at Zeeuws Museum in The Netherlands

The exhibition tells the story of Jan Huijszoon (the real name of Jan de Prentenknipper) who is considered an iconic artist of importance in The Netherlands. He depicted the world around him as he travelled from place to place in the province of Zeeland , sometimes with his family, in search of work

Zeeland is the westernmost and most sparsely populated area of the Netherlands

‘Inside the Student Recruitment Machine’ about the global business of universities enticing foreign students

'Letters of Recommendation'

Reading the court documents of the most absurd and funny lawsuits

Puppets

ExtraPlaats 2 printed and published by Knust Press in collaboration with Stichting Plaatsmaken

Ten different artists, illustrators and designers were invited by Knust and Plaatsmaken to work within the boundaries of the Riso and screen printing to create an artwork

Double page in Wobby risograph magazine, issue #24 the ‘Déjà Vu’ issue

An imagined sproftacchel / photo cut out board

Happy Holidays

Staycation postcard

Staycation postcard

'Teens'

From the Graphic novel 'Bubble Book'; a semi autobiographic story of Masha's childhood growing up in Russia

'Childhood'

From the Graphic novel 'Bubble Book'; a semi autobiographic story of Masha's childhood growing up in Russia