Romanian illustrator Sorina Vazelina brings graphic storytelling to Berlin’s Literary Europe event – Business Review
Art
Romanian illustrator Sorina Vazelina brings graphic storytelling to Berlin’s Literary Europe event
Oana Vasiliu09/10/2026 | 16:15
Romanian illustrator and comic book artist Sorina Vasilescu, known professionally as Sorina Vazelina, will represent Romania at the Literary Europe event in Berlin on October 13, bringing renewed attention to illustration and graphic storytelling, artistic disciplines that remain less visible in mainstream cultural coverage than painting, sculpture or contemporary art installations.
Organised by EUNIC Berlin, the network of European cultural institutes, the event will take place at the Museum für Kommunikation under the theme Pioneers: Illustrated Biographies of European Women. It brings together European illustrators, comic book artists and translators whose works explore the lives of women who challenged social conventions, confronted political oppression or made their mark on history.
Bringing forgotten histories to life through illustration
Sorina Vazelina will present The Silent Escape, a graphic interpretation of the life of Lena Constante (1909–2005), the Romanian artist and writer who spent nearly a decade imprisoned for political reasons under the communist regime.
Drawing on Constante’s testimonies, the project examines political imprisonment, personal freedom and the psychological consequences of repression. Through sequential images and visual storytelling, Vazelina translates a difficult chapter of Romanian history into a contemporary artistic language.
The Berlin programme also features French-born illustrator Nina Six, whose graphic novel La Sorcière de Londres revisits the life of British writer Stella Benson, and Ukrainian artist Jenya Polsina, whose work documents the experiences of women serving in Ukraine’s armed forces. Austrian translator Marisa Kröpfl will contribute her perspective on the role of graphic novels in recovering women’s histories.
Why illustration deserves greater cultural visibility
Although illustration is part of everyday visual culture, appearing in books, magazines, advertising, animation and digital media, its recognition as an independent artistic practice remains uneven.
Unlike painting or sculpture, illustration is frequently perceived through its commercial or editorial applications. Yet contemporary illustrators increasingly work across disciplines, combining drawing, historical research, journalism and literature to address subjects that might otherwise remain outside public attention.
Graphic novels and documentary comics have become particularly relevant in this respect. Their combination of text and image allows artists to reconstruct personal histories, interpret archival material and approach complex political experiences through an accessible visual format.
The works presented in Berlin demonstrate this potential. From the political imprisonment of Lena Constante to the experiences of Ukrainian women in wartime, illustration becomes a means of documenting lives that conventional historical narratives have sometimes overlooked.
The event takes place on October 13, at 7 PM, at the Museum für Kommunikation in Berlin, with a discussion moderated by Laura Keilbart. The programme is organised in collaboration with several European cultural institutes and will be held in English. Admission is free, with prior registration required.
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