Sophia Zarders (she/they) is a visual artist & illustrator from Long Beach, California. They currently reside in Vancover, BC, situated on unceded, traditional and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. They received a BFA in Illustration from California State University, Long Beach in 2016 and will complete the MFA Visual Art program at Emily Carr University of Art & Design in 2023.
In 2018, Sophia’s first solo exhibition, Tinsel Angels, opened at Somos Gallery in Berlin, Germany. The show displayed a collection of watercolor self portraits influenced by the visual language of American pop culture & film archetypes. A sketchbook chronicling their daily experiences at the 3 month Somos artist residency was also on display. Sophia has exhibited at Shockboxx Gallery in 2021, Haight Street Art Gallery in 2020, Fantagraphics in 2020, and AndLAB in 2016.
Sophia has worked as a freelance illustrator and comic artist for 7 years. Their editorial work has been published internationally in The Nation, Fiyah Literary Magazine, and The Socialist Review. Their work was recently included in the HarperCollins book Notes From the Bathroom Line, a collection of stories from women and trans comedians edited by Amy Solomon. They have been commissioned by grassroots organizations and non-profits across the United States to create empowering graphics, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the City of Long Beach, and Forward Together. They created a design for the national billboard campaign “Trans is Sacred”, organized by SaveArtSpace in 2020. The design was on display on billboards for the public in West LA.
Since 2015, Sophia has self-published numerous zines and comics about activists, musicians, comedians, and filmmakers. They currently enjoy designing comedy show posters and watching reality television with their dog, Bobo.
View Sophia’s portfolio & complete CV at www.sophiazarders.com .