CJM Sholarship 2021: Pocholo Cabarroguis

Cholo is an independent Calgary-based artist, working primarily in digital illustration. Born in the Philippines and raised in Canada, they are a self-taught visual artist who’s worked in various mediums including digital illustration, graphic design, painting, printmaking, and very recently, animation.

Black-and-white photo of Pocholo Cabarroguis in half-tone style.

We are excited to announce the recipient of our 2021 Chris J. Melnychuk Memorial Scholarship and Residency: Pocholo Cabarroguis

Cholo is an independent Calgary-based artist, working primarily in digital illustration. Born in the Philippines and raised in Canada, they are a self-taught visual artist who’s worked in various mediums including digital illustration, graphic design, painting, printmaking, and very recently, animation. Though passionate about art through and through, they are also passionate about music (being involved in CJSW Radio), comics (especially independent or alt comics), film (loves Tarkovsky and Varda), and cooking (as a hobby).

Cholo aims to bring a sense of universally understood comfort and solace, especially in times of distance and turmoil. Through their work, they hope to explore themes of empathy, community, melancholy, belonging versus alienation, escapism versus reality, gender expression and queer identity, and post-turmoil catharsis.

CJM Project Summary:

Set in an RPG-like fantasy world, Tavern Trail is a light vignette which follows the life of a travelling kitchen-in-a-caravan (basically a fantasy food truck) as it traverses the lands and feeds those in it. Warm and cozy story, with a focus on fantasy adaptations of real world food and cooking techniques. Aimed to evoke the comfort associated with animated food scenes from Ghibli films.

Also see our Previous CJM Scholarship Recipient, Sacha Michaud!

See some of Cholo's selected works below:

Illustration by Cholo Cabarroguis based on the film Bird Boy
Illustrated poster for Juzo Itami's Tampopo, featuring five people slurping bowls of ramen and one character staring at the viewer, drawn by Cholo Cabarroguis
Illustration of a pyramid-headed being holding a glowing staff, by Cholo Cabarroguis
Illustration of a character fully wrapped in bandages standing in dramatic lighting, by Cholo Cabarroguis