Kawaii In The Afterlife: The Playfully Religious Art Of Japanese Illustrator Hasuimo

Japanese illustrator hasuimo makes no secret about the orientation of her art. The tweet pinned to the top of her account clearly states: “I like spiritual things.”

More: Tumblr, Twitter h/t: grapee

Bringing together a kawaii and fashion-conscious aesthetic and a fascination with Christian, Buddhist and Shinto iconography, sometimes blended together in startling new configurations, the illustrations she shares on her Tumblr account alternately feature nuns, angels, saints, cherubs, dead bodies, skulls, crosses, crowns, halos, aureoles, tombstones and even Jack-O’-Lanterns in the mix.

Many of the girls in hasuimo’s art wear triangle headbands. Originally an item decorating the bodies of the deceased at Buddhist funerals, it is often used in popular culture, manga and anime to indicate anyone who has passed on to the afterlife.