Gracia Lam’s work is quiet and unassuming, and that’s why it will catch you off guard. You’ll be leafing through her portfolio, taking in the beautiful colours, admiring her mastery of composition and likeable characterisations and then it hits you – these are really, unbelievably good. She’s the kind of illustrator who can take a simple briefing and add surprising depth, distilling abstract thoughts into concrete moments of lingering beauty. Take On the Theme of Absence for example, a feeling of vacancy and loss is evoked, rather than told – no small visual feat, which Gracia has executed with grace.