Meet FIDA Award Winner - Karolina Bergin
Karolina Bergin, winner of the FIDA Award for Best Illustrated Faces and Beauty, is an artist quietly redefining the way we see beauty.
When Karolina left her career in interior architecture in 2025, it wasn’t a sudden break but a return to something she describes as “essential.” She explains, “I’m still at the beginning of building this path professionally, but it already feels like the most natural direction for me.” What she longed for was the physical presence of traditional materials – “the texture, the physicality, the quiet concentration that comes with them.” Stepping fully into art allowed her to reconnect with what she says had been missing for years.
The winning artwork for the FIDA Award for Best Illustrated Faces and Beauty(above)
Her journey with FIDA began almost on impulse. “FIDA was the first competition I ever entered,” she says. She saw the announcement online just three days before the deadline. “Something inside me said, ‘Try.’ I hadn’t painted in years, but I pulled out an old canvas, set up my easel, and started creating without expectations.” That instinctive moment revived the spark she thought she’d left behind. Since then, her work has been featured in the 8th and 9th FIDA Awards, shortlisted for the 10th, selected for International Fashion Illustration Week 2024, named a Rising Star in The Fible 5, and soon will be part of Portrait 2026 at the CICA Museum in Korea. “Every step has been a new discovery.”
She found out she had won the recent award during a dance class. “I was completely shocked,” she recalls. “I heard the news in my workout clothes, unprepared, and not even thinking about the results. When I heard my name, I froze.” The emotional impact stayed with her. “Winning gave me something more important than recognition: clarity. The feeling that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It encouraged me to trust my intuition, to create more boldly, and to explore the stories I wanted to tell through my work.”
When asked what the recognition means to her, she says, “For me, it’s about finding clarity in my voice. Not louder – just more honest.” She hopes her drawings offer viewers “a pause… a moment to stop, look closely, and feel something real.”
Her winning work, Special Beauty, comes from her Beyond the Surface series. The inspiration was a photograph of Françoise de Staël in Le Monde Magazine. “Her gaze, her presence, the years written into her skin – I wanted to capture not just her face, but the story within it.” She worked in her mixed-media technique of watercolours, coloured pencils and oil pastels. “Every mark was a dialogue – between emotion and observation, surface and meaning. To me, age is a privilege, and I wanted this piece to honour that truth.”
Karolina wants people to know that her drawings “aren’t about flawless execution, they’re about presence, emotion, and the subtle stories hidden beneath the surface.” She hopes viewers slow down, breathe, and “perhaps recognise a feeling or thought that’s uniquely theirs.”
Winning has also shaped the direction of what comes next. “Receiving this recognition has given me confidence to trust my instincts and let the work guide me,” she says. “Each new piece will continue to explore emotion and human experience, focusing on subtle, intimate moments that often go unnoticed.”
To artists hoping to achieve similar recognition, her advice is direct: “Trust yourself. Your instincts are stronger than you think. Don’t measure your journey against anyone else’s – each artist unfolds at their own pace. My first FIDA submission didn’t win, but it unexpectedly opened a door. You never know which piece might become that doorway.”
She dedicates the achievement “to myself – for choosing this path, even when it felt uncertain,” and also to her mother and friends Madzia and Paula, “whose constant support carried me through doubt and fear.”
Looking ahead, she’s planning for a year of growth. “In 2026, I plan to focus on competitions, developing my website, and continuing my Beyond the Surface series. I’m excited to work with even larger formats in the future – it’s something I’m eager to explore when the time is right.” Balancing time, materials and life isn’t always simple, she says, “but creating is where I feel most alive. Art is my voice, and I intend to follow it wherever it leads me.”
See more of Karolina Bergin:
Instagram: karolinabergin.art
See Karolina's artwork in the 11th FIDA Awards Exhibition
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