https://killerpancakeillustration.com
Killerpancake Illustration is Genevieve Barbee-Turner, a tarot card illustrator and two-dimensional artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. She is creating cursed occult wares including tarot decks, stickers and stationary, fine art prints, and other decor inspired by horror stories, folklore, and ghost stories from across history and pop culture. Killerpancake blends contemporary Appalachia and queer/femme identity with a splash of gothic aesthetic.
Genevieveâs pen name, Killerpancake, is an ode to hours of listening to audiobooks while drawing as a young girl. A reference to a cozy mystery book title, listening to a story has always painted pictures inside her head in a way that nothing else does. In 2012, she started recording a podcast called The AP Collection, where she interviewed approximately 200 people about Pittsburgh and creativity. These conversations inspired a fully illustrated 78-card tarot deck detailing the realities of âNew Pittsburghâ called Bridge Witches: A Tarot Deck.
As a product of the Bible Belt in the 90s, Genevieve lived in the wake of the Satanic Panic. As a result, she learned early that fear and anxiety are tools used by people to control others, especially women and queer people. Later, she luckily, found âmisfitsâ in the goth club scene, where she met people of a wide variety of genders and sexual identities. In the era of Donât Ask, Donât Tell, there were spaces that sheltered folks living on the fringe, and in that space, Genevieve discovered her people.
Genevieve earned a BFA in Art from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007, and studied at Universität der Kßnste Berlin in 2006 focusing on printing, drawing, and printmaking. However, her practice was built long before entering an art studio.
Since childhood, she has had a drawing instrument in her hand. Copying of fashion photography in Vogue magazine, her obsession with the human figure and its dynamic use to tell stories remains relevant today. She moved on to drawing classes on VHS tapes, then at the local community center, and ultimately attended The Governorâs School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia, during high school before moving on to her studies at CMU in Pittsburgh.
