“A book that changed my life? Well, for obvious reasons, Alice in Wonderland. I love that it is in a fantasy world, where anything is possible.” This seems like an appropriate place to start with the universe of Alice Pasquini, the Rome-based stencil, mural and fine artist who has turned the Italian city into her fantasy world.

Through layered stencil works and extensive installation projects, Pasquini is a bit of a throwback to early Italian street art origins, but more fantastical like a fairy tale, akin to Pop Surrealism and stories like Alice in Wonderland. Although her murals and gallery work glow with a special aura, it’s the characters in her stencils that really capture her love of magical vistas. “Working in the streets, I have found myself in countless situations, whether exhilarating, educational or unexpected. I receive immediate feedback, whether it be surprise, joy or curiosity of the passerby,” she writes of the smaller street works. Her new monograph, Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini, is a wonderful overview of the artist’s mid-career adventures, from extensive travels, to the stories of how her work developed. With her ongoing CVTà Street Fest in the medieval village of Civitacampomarano in Italy’s remote Molise region, Pasquini carries the torch for street art as a possibility, as both artist and curator. Evan Pricco

Drago, dragopublisher.com