Known simply as Valfré, Ilse Valfré is an illustrator and artist born in Mexico who has, over time, built an imagery made up of surreal worlds and intimate narratives. Her multidisciplinary practice—interweaving painting, illustration, and design—becomes a tool for reflecting on identity, femininity, and the emotional complexity of contemporary life. Her works stage stylized figures and suspended characters, often caught in moments of introspection or transformation, as if they were fragments of a broader story—one that is constantly evolving.

Raised in Playas de Tijuana, a border city where two countries meet in front of the ocean, Valfré absorbed from an early age the sense of ambiguity and possibility that comes from existing between different worlds. This liminal space—geographical but also emotional—has become a constant in her visual research: her works speak of duality, of a desire to belong, and of the tension between who we are and who we want to become. Her style, seemingly delicate and playful, conceals a deeper reflection on autonomy, beauty, and vulnerability—approached without rhetoric, but with an almost confessional clarity.

Today, Valfré seems to continue expanding her creative universe across different disciplines and formats, without ever losing a strong visual identity. Her illustrations are open emotional spaces, inviting viewers to recognize themselves, project onto them, and linger. In a constant balance between dream and reality, Valfré’s work tells the story of the present through a personal lens, transforming individual experience—especially the female one—into something shared.