DETROIT – A couple of years after creating for the “Stories of Us” outdoor art exhibit in Detroit, illustrator and author DeAnn Wiley remains focused on ensuring every child can see themselves on the page.
Wiley, 32, spent Wednesday (Feb. 18) unboxing her latest project, “Hazel’s Best Day” by Adiba Nelson, a children’s book set to hit store shelves in March.
Wiley’s illustrations follow a young girl on a big adventure to a disability pride parade — exactly the kind of story, and characters, she says are often missing from children’s literature.
“One of the things I try to do when I’m creating my art is think about who’s missing,” Wiley said.
She said she has just as much fun creating her own characters.
“She just can’t be contained,” Wiley said of the latest character in her upcoming book. “All the adults in the book want her to be safe or think in a logical way.”
Wiley grew up in Detroit, loving art but never considering it a real career path.
She studied psychology and planned to become a therapist.
Now, she believes she has found her purpose, still drawing on that training to help young readers process complex issues.
“Being able to create books, illustrations that are digestible for children, that cover big things like protests, racism, colorism,” Wiley said, is central to her work.
Wiley was one of a handful of local artists selected to create sculptures for “Stories of Us,” a traveling installation that began in Detroit and has since expanded to include artists from cities across the country as America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
From that public art project to writing and illustrating her own books, Wiley’s work is reaching audiences far beyond her hometown.
Her hope is that people of all shapes, sizes, abilities, and skin tones can recognize themselves in her illustrations.
“I create for my little sister,” Wiley said. “I create for my mom, who is a dark-skinned Black woman who experienced a lot of colorism.”