The international professional illustration event Irudika has announced Varya Yakovleva in the illustration category and Rocío Álvarez in the graphic animation category as the artists selected for its 2026 residencies. The artists will be able to work on their artistic projects during a residency organised between 3 March and 22 May at art venues in Angoulême (France), Zapopan (Mexico) and Bilbao, culminating in an exhibition in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
ILLUSTRATION RESIDENCY - VARYA YAKOVLEVA
For her work, which is intimate, emotional and rich in texture. “In her project, she proposes an illustrated book for adults on the theme of exile and the attempt to integrate through sexual experiences” with the project Diary of an Alien.
An illustrator and visual artist, she works primarily on paper using ink, watercolour and mixed media. Exile and displacement have profoundly influenced her practice: whilst her early works responded directly to war and the body’s reaction to violence, today she explores the inner landscapes of memory, loss and resilience. Through drawing, she creates parallel worlds in which real people and situations are transformed by the imagination
Diary of an Alien is an illustrated diary that explores exile, sexuality and adaptation. The project takes the form of an illustrated album with comic-book elements, in which she explores her personal experience of forced emigration and arrival in a ‘new world’. In 2022, she left Russia and moved to France, with no language skills, no social connections and no clear prospects. All she had was her art. In this new environment, she felt like an alien who had landed on another planet, where everything, from the language to the cultural codes, seemed strange and incomprehensible to her.
GRAPHIC ANIMATION RESIDENCY - ROCÍO ÁLVAREZ
For his work, which is a form of carnal symbiosis, art that travels. “A project that combines analogue and digital techniques to create highly evocative animations. It explores our reaction to the chaos of the world and our own contradictions” through the project Me resbala.
Rocío Álvarez is an animation film director, illustrator and painter from Valencia, based in Brussels, Belgium. With a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and a diploma from a higher education institution specialising in animated film, her current work combines these two disciplines, ranging from animations for theatre productions, museums, brands and television bumpers, to illustrations in the form of posters for events and/or festivals, large jungle-themed murals and animated portraits in GIF format, amongst other things.
"Me reesbala" is a metaphorical expression taken literally, with concepts sweating out, lines of ink running down a face with a forced smile, feigning madness to carry on. But not a dramatic face, more like a meme. Scroll down, just another video. We live in turbulent times, and although they always have been, it seems that in recent years the pace has quickened, both in terms of armed conflicts and the first clear signs of climate change that is already upon us. A whole host of contemporary existential anxieties at everyone’s reach in our pockets, broadcasting live…
Thanks to our professional jury comprising BilbaoArte Fundazioa, the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image (Angoulême), Fundación Vital, ACE Cultura (Asociación Colegial de Escritores), Casa del Autor, Hopper Ink, Meris BR, Petra Ediciones, Harriet Lenneman, Cerdineta and Kike Infame, and to the applicants from Russia, France, Colombia, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Argentina, Poland, Cuba, Mexico, Chile, Belgium... and ACE Cultura, without whose support we would not have this category, which is so important to Irudika.