ABOUT
Lera Bolkonskaia is a London-based illustrator and artist from Ukraine working across mixed traditional media. Her practice centres on people and animals, exploring emotion, instinct, and psychological presence through expressive mark-making and fluid colour.
Working intuitively with watercolour, ink, clay and drawing, Lera embraces imperfection and spontaneity as a way of resisting rigid aesthetic and social norms.
Influenced by feminist perspectives and contemporary figurative art, her work celebrates nonconformity and emotional rawness. She is finishing her MA Illustration degree at Camberwell College of Arts by November 2026. Her degree show in July presented a selection of new work including a large scale painted mural and audio-visual video work.
She has presented her work in solo exhibitions (including the Kosenko Memorial Museum) and book fairs in Kyiv and London and is a regular contributor to group shows in the UK.
SERVICES
- Live Event Portraits & Brand Activations
- Packaging, Branding & Advertising Illustration
- Editorial Illustration
- Murals & Window Art, etc.
SELECTED CLIENTS & COLLABORATIONS
- University of the Arts London
- Not Just a Shop
- Mortar Magazine
- Letchworth Festival
- YourKommunication Space
- Meet Me community club
SELECTED AWARDS & RECOGNITION
- Winner – D&AD New Blood: The Portfolios 2026
- Featured Artist — Creative Lives in Progress Instagram Spotlight 2026
- Endorsed by Colette Bailey, CEO of the WOW Foundation
- Featured in “Meet the Maker” by NotJustaShop
EXHIBITIONS & ART MARKETS
2026 – MA Illustration Showcase, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
2025 – Illustrators’ Fair, King’s Cross, London
2025 – Graduate Diploma Showcase, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
2024 – Group Exhibition, Broadway Gallery, Letchworth, UK
2023–2024 – Regular Exhibitor, Information office, Hitchin, UK
2019 – “City of Inspiration”, Solo Exhibition, Kosenko Memorial Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 – Arsenal Book Fair, Kyiv, Ukraine
WORKSHOPS
Lera facilitates portrait sketching and creativity workshops for adults, students and children encouraging observation, storytelling and self-expression through drawing.
2026 – Portrait sketching workshops, UAL Welcome Week
2025 – UAL Postgraduate Community
2025 – Portrait sketching, Peckham Levels Festival
2024 – Letchworth Festival
2023 – The Wilbury Community, Hertfordshire