A little man walks in a dark forest and instead of being afraid he is aware that he is looking for himself. Another black figure is in the middle of a tunnel, but he strengthens himself by repeating that he will get out of it. These are just some of the images illustrated by Óscar Alonso, better known as 72kilos.

His very special stage name tells a lot about Óscar Alonso’s life. It was in 2008 when the artist, who at the time weighed 92 kilos, decided to bet with his friends that he would lose 20 kilos. He started running every day, but not only that, but he also started making some nice illustrations for himself. Day after day the number on the scale began to fall, while the number of his followers on Instagram continued to rise inexorably. 

Today, 72kilos has more than a million and a half followers, two books published and his illustrations have stopped telling only his experience, but have started to be the mirror of the world around us. 

In his small images, pastel colors make us think of a perfect world, while instead, they hide all the defects and inequalities of the reality in which we live. The mountains in his illustrations, on which small black figures live alone, are nothing but the representation of the isolation we believe we are around us through a spasmodic and sick use of social networks, which make us think we are connected, while instead, we detach ourselves more and more from the people around us. 

Every day, being in the home of Instagram an illustration of 72kilos allows us to reflect on who we are, where we are going, and, sometimes, allows us to have a pinch of reality in a context where only fiction seems to win.