Artist in Focus: Aysha Tengiz

Aysha Tengiz is a vibrant and imaginative artist/illustrator who lives and creates art in Southwark, South London. Her work is bursting with bold colours, quirky characters, and lots of charm. Aysha spent her childhood between Turkey and the English countryside and now works from a cosy studio tucked beneath Southwark’s railway arches.

One of her picture books, Baboo the Unusual Bee, tells the tale of a pink bee who loves to dance but feels left out by the other bees. Baboo soon makes a new friend — a green ladybird named Lee — and together they celebrate what makes them unique. Aysha’s lively and colourful illustrations help the story jump off the page and fill it with joy.

Aysha often explores feelings like loneliness, friendship, and being different through her artwork. Her pictures help us understand big emotions in a gentle, cheerful way. She has created artwork for major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post, the new Google site at Kings X, and even designed animations for King’s College London to support families during the pandemic.

Recently, Aysha took part in a child-led interview for our very own londonsoutharthub.org, in which she answers fantastic questions from Charles Dickens pupils — everything from what inspires her, her love of Meg and Mog and the Moomins, the merman at the Horniman Museum, and her fascination with quantum physics!

You are warmly invited to watch the interview and discover even more about Aysha’s incredible creative world. If you’d like to share your own Aysha Tengiz-inspired artwork with us after watching, simply email it to: [email protected].