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Maria Apriatova (Ukraine) is an Odesa-based illustrator, museum artist, exhibition specialist and fine-art teacher. She studied at the M. B. Grekov Odesa Art College from 2003 to 2008 and later received a master’s degree from the K. D. Ushynsky South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University. Apriatova has worked at the Bleschunov Odesa Municipal Museum of Personal Collections since 2012, initially as a junior research associate and museum artist. Since 2015, she has served as Head of Exhibitions. She has also taught fine art within the international Fantasy Room network of art schools and has worked as a freelance illustrator since 2022. Apriatova is the illustrator and co-creator, together with Olena Iliasova, of Odesa. Museum Diary of War. She developed the project’s visual language and its characters, including Marisel and Panna Kota. The project exists as a graphic series, printed publication, travelling exhibition, animation and zine. Her recent work also includes the exhibition project Language Exercises, supported by Artists Support Ukraine and Port of Culture, and the Ukrainian-Estonian project Lament of the Kherson Region, supported by the House of Europe programme. She was one of twelve illustrators who contributed to its handmade manuscript. Apriatova has participated in international zine and visual-art events, including the ZIN Festival in Bremen.

Selected works and projects

More than 40 freelance illustration projects, including Amazing Ants: A Kid’s Book of Cool Facts and Pictures of Ants for Yost Survival Skills, USA

Illustrator and co-author of Odesa. Museum Diary of War/ Marisel and Panna Kota Save Cultural Heritage and Themselves, 2022–2025

Visual development of the project in printed, travelling exhibition, and animated film formats

Language Exercises, exhibition grant project supported by Artists Support Ukraine and Port of Culture, 2024

Lament of Kherson Region, international Ukrainian-Estonian project supported by House of Europe, 2024; one of twelve illustrators of the handmade manuscript

Participant in Zine Festival, Bremen, Germany, 2025

Participant in WARM Festival, 2026, with presentation and zine publication