“Bodegas play an essential role in the New York City lifestyle and define its landscape,” says illustrator Gabi Lamontagne of the corner stores that she’s been depicting since moving there from Quebec in 2012. “I was attracted to their hand-painted awnings framed with colourful lightbulbs… once in a while, you will find a working cat inside a store.” Lamontagne first photographs the bodegas and then uses concentrated watercolour ink to illustrate them. “I try to lightly abstract them with washes and colours, hoping to capture their idiosyncratic beauty.”