Barbara Yelin explores the diverse narrative and artistic possibilities of comics as a medium. Drawing, as an analogue practice of perception, becomes a form in which looking and reading merge through sequential storytelling. Texts, images and blank spaces intertwine, expand upon one another and together create rhythm, tension and room for ambiguity.
Yelin’s award-winning body of work encompasses graphic novels, webcomics, comic strips, illustrations for daily newspapers and magazines, as well as children’s books. Her work is regularly featured in exhibitions in Germany and abroad.
Born in Munich in 1977, Barbara Yelin studied illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg). Since then, she has created numerous internationally acclaimed graphic novels, with a particular focus on documentary and biographical subjects. These include Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory (2023), Irmina (2014) and Die Giehse – Ein Leben für das Theater (2025). In these works, she combines an artistic approach to storytelling with historical research and social reflection. Alongside her artistic practice, Yelin has long been actively involved in comics education and in fostering connections within the comics community.
She has taught in Germany and internationally, including as a visiting professor at the Saar Academy of Fine Arts (HBKsaar) in Saarbrücken, Grinnell College in Iowa, USA, and the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte). In 2016, Yelin received the Max and Moritz Prize for Best German-Language Comic Artist. In 2025/2026, she spent a year in Rome as a recipient of the Rome Prize and a fellow at the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo.
