Gigi Rosado Illustration
Joanna Rosado, also known as Gigi, an Edinburgh-based illustrator and former social worker, channels her passion for art and design to advocate equality and inclusion through vibrant digital works.
Edition 4 feature
Words by: Joanna Rosado
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Photo Credit: ©Ania Augustyn Kowalska
My real name is Joanna, but friends call me Gigi. Through my illustrations, I try to promote ideas of equality and inclusion, which are the main drivers of my works. Being a former social worker and interior designer makes me believe that art and design can significantly change societies and individual people’s lives.
I was born in a small town in central Poland and would grow up to study social pedagogy at the University of Lodz. After graduating, I worked for some time as an occupational and art therapist with mentally ill women. It was a time when the situation in my home country was challenging, and I was unable to make ends meet while living independently from my family. When I was 25, I moved to the UK, to Edinburgh, with £200 in my pocket to survive for the first month. I found a job in a nursing home and shared a rented flat with six others. Times were tough, but it taught me not to give up.
