Anorak magazine wants to see your eyeballs

Creatives from across the world are being invited to share their eyeball artwork for the magazine’s Donate Your Eyes initiative, which hopes to raise awareness of childhood glaucoma

By Virginia Taroni

Donate Your Eyes was set up by kids magazine Anorak and Anomaly creative director David Lawrie, whose own son, Flynn, was diagnosed with glaucoma while a baby.

As well as bringing together a wealth of eyeball-themed artworks on a dedicated Instagram page, they’re hoping to make more people aware of the condition, and raise money for London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital – which treated Flynn when he was younger.

Submissions so far have ranged from looping animations and minimal line drawings to more surreal interpretations, including Malachy James’ image of a man carrying a pair of giant, disembodied eyeballs. All pieces of work are donated – although the original artist retains the rights – and Anorak is accepting new submissions for the foreseeable future.

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“Photos of eyes can all look similar-ish but the drawing of an eye takes on the form of how that person views the world,” says Cathy Olmedillas, who founded Anorak in 2006. CR readers might be familiar with its Happy Downloads series, which launched during lockdown last year and offered free activity sheets to keep kids busy.

“It felt like a more impactful, more of a personal thing to donate and had room for imagination too,” continues Olmedillas. “It was also a way to galvanise a community whose lives and passions revolve around what they see on a platform, designed for others to look at.”

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Eye-themed artworks can be submitted to Anorak at donateyoureyeshere@gmail.com; instagram.com/donateyoureyes; anorakmagazine.com