Sanika Phawde (She/They) is an illustrator, educator, cartoonist and reportage artist, born and raised in India, and currently based in Baltimore.
Through autobiographical comics, drawings on location, and illustrated interviews their work strives to capture and communicate instances of emotional connection, queer immigrant culture, familial tension and the deeper sentiments hiding in the heart of it. Their comic series “Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas” won the 2025 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series.
Her clients include Spotify, The New Yorker, HarperCollins, Mcelroy Family Podcasts, The Wilderness Society, Simply Gum, Das Magazin, iHeart Radio, Food and Wine Magazine, among others.
Area(s) of Expertise:
Illustration / Cartooning / Comics / Visual Journalism / Reportage
Teaching Appointments
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Selected Exhibitions
2024: "International Migrants Day", United Nations, New York, NY
2023: "Diwali at the MFA", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2024 "Eat With Your Eyes", Gallery 263, Cambridge
2024 "We All Live Here Together", Providence Public Library
2023: "Eat At Your Own Risk' at Out of Box Gallery, Jamestown, RI
2023: "Outside the lines", Pao Arts Center, Boston, MA
2022: "Women's History Month Group Exhibition"Jersey City City Hall
2021: SVA Gramercy Gallery 2021
Awards, Honors & Residencies
Comics and Illustration:
2025 Ignatz Award in the Outstanding Series Category, Winner
2026 Ignatz Award, in the Outstanding Series Category, Nominee
2026 Monsoon Awards 2026, Finalist
2026 Broken Frontier Award for Best Periodical Series (Nominee)
2026 Rob Stull Emerging Artist Fund
2025 Athenaeum Gives Grant
2024 Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo Grant
2024 Comics Advocacy Group Grant
2024 Center for Cartoon Studies BIPOC Scholarship
2021 ADC Young Ones Portfolio Award
2021 D&AD New Blood Portfolio Award
2021 Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement in Master's Program
2023 Short Run Seattle's Katie Kelso Travel Grant
2021 MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence
2020 SVA Alumni Scholarship Award
Writing and Poetry:
2023 Pushcart Prize Nominee for Fiction
2023-2024 Subnivean Poetry Award Finalist
