Yuko Shimizu is a Japanese illustrator who works out of New York city. Her work is a combination of Japanese heritage and contemporary reference. She grew up both here in the US and in Japan. She also has two college degrees, one in both countries.
She has worked as an illustrator for many prominent companies including The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, GQ, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, MTV, Target, National Public Radio, Time, The New York Times, And The Library of congress. Also, in 2018 she won the Hamilton King award. Now She teaches Illustration at The school of visual arts.
“Explore safely” was created in 2008 to ‘better educate teenage girls in Europe about safe sex and AIDS prevention”(paperink). I think this work speaks to me so much because at first glance you could completely miss how provocative it is, only once you’ve taken a closer look at it do you see how provocative it is. I also really enjoy the look of the poster, even though the main focus is right in the middle there is still enough going on in the background to keep it very visually interesting.
If you would like to see more of her work you can look at her web site https://yukoart.com/
Graphic Design Spring '22 
This particular post stood out to me when I was glancing through all of the different pieces of art. I was thrown off immediately by the photo, given how provocative it is. After reading through your description and looking at the image more closely, I realized what was happening and being advocated for. I found it interesting that expressing a form of advocacy for safe sex through this form of art, in my personal opinion, I feel like it would get the message across more clearly than if it was said out loud or to someone directly.
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