I am Lilya Matveeva, a visual narrative artist and illustrator based in Berlin. I work across illustration, graphic novels and painting.

 

I was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.

In 2022 I left Russia in political exile, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the intensifying repression at home. That rupture is not a backdrop to my work but it is part of its subject.

Much of my practice is built around memory and human rights.

I worked as an illustrator for Memorial, the historical and human-rights organisation forcibly shut down by the Russian state, making courtroom drawings, portraits of political prisoners and the series Возвращение имён / The Return of the Names.

 

I have collaborated with Amnesty International, Transparency International, the Civil Society Forum and cultural and memorial institutions across Europe.

 

In 2025 my graphic novel Rose + Robert. Liebe in Zeiten des Kriege (Schiler & Mücke) was published in Germany – a true story of love interrupted by state violence, between the GDR and West Germany. Since then I have held readings and book presentations at cultural and educational institutions across the country.

 

Alongside this, I am developing a painting practice in oil, watercolour and gouache, looking at urban fauna and shared habitats in the city – the relationship between human and non-human life. 

 

Member of BBK Berlin (Professional Association of Visual Artists) and VG Bild-Kunst.

 

Languages: Russian (native), English (fluent), German (B2), Polish (B2).

 

I am open to illustration commissions, book collaborations and long-term cultural projects.