Take a look at New York, where weed is skanky and sometimes dangerous. This month, the state's cannabis control board voted to expand license applications to everyone. This is why they did it… (I’m trying a new style of explaining outliers for @guardian)

Thank you @time for naming me in your 100 next list. Just patiently waiting for everything to go wrong because these past few months have been a bit too fruity. Photo by @heathersten of me wearing my mum’s dress in front of a painting in progress.

I measured the size of these squares right down to the pixel, trust me the scale is right - but 31% looked bigger than I thought it would. It almost feels like an optical illusion - something that's right in front of you but you still have to squint to see it accurately. I was asked to illustrate the fact that 31% of women experience gender-based violence at some point in their lives and I immediately had so many questions about the statistic. It comes from a 2021 World Health Organization report and it's an *underestimate* - it doesn't include trans women or non-binary people and recent studies show that the number is now higher. But still, that's the best data we have and it's shocking (or at least it should be shocking which is why I made these comparisons here). This got installed yesterday at the @fordfoundation HQ on 43rd st in New York and it was created as part of a series between Ford and @themeteor. Source: @who, 2021

A little bit of exhibitionism this summer in Sydney thanks to @semipermanent. I got to work with so many kind, creative people this year. It made me a better person (hopefully).

Statistically, it's birthday season. People born on September 9th you’re nothing special but if you were born on Christmas or New Year’s Day, you‘re a relatively rare gem. See the patterns in the data??? They vary by country because climate affects fertility and because holidays affect when people hump and when doctors are available to perform cesareans. Source: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (1994-2003) and U.S. Social Security Administration (2004-2014)

I was lucky enough to work with women in Afghanistan to create this illustration for @unwomen. A quick bit of history: a hundred years ago, the first school for girls opened in Afghanistan. But in the space of just 2 years, the right to go to school, to work, to travel has been stolen in new, devastating ways. As the UN explains, "women have been banned from going to parks, gyms, and public bathing houses. They have been stopped from pursuing education beyond the sixth grade. Their ability to work outside of health and education is all but prohibited. The cumulative effect of the Taliban’s edicts and behaviours has largely resulted in the imprisonment of women within the walls of their homes." Source: This illustration is based on 54 edicts issued by the Taliban that have directly targeted women and girls since August 2021.

A little guide to help you through tick season… Lyme disease cases have more than doubled over the past 30 years. Before you get too stressed out by that increase, some of it is just down to better public knowledge about Lyme disease and doctors getting better at diagnosing it (although it's still too hard for a lot of people to have their symptoms taken seriously, especially women and people of color). The CDC has a really good list of advice for people in tick heavy states (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) like using 0.5% permethrin and checking your body for ticks when you get home. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seasonality chart is based on data from 2008 to 2021 #lymedisease

trying portraits

I was going to draw people on toilets simultaneously eating and pooing but I didn't think you'd keep swiping. Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009-2015

🤮 data for @guardian Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009-2015

The Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action yesterday. I made this illustration way back in 2017 when it became clear that Trump was trying to reverse affirmative action at universities (the work of undoing rights can take a long time and shit, we need to take those early threats seriously). I wanted to ignore the opinion polling and look at the *impact* of affirmative action. Several states have banned these programs in the past. This happened in California in 1998 and when it did, Black and Hispanic enrollment at Berkeley College fell from 24% to just 13%. Since then, the gap between a fair world and the real one has just got wider. Over half of college-age Californians are Black or Hispanic but only 15% make it to Berkeley. Source: National Center for Education Statistics, US Census Bureau

this is a bit cringe but what can I say, crusty men spark my creativity