Swiss Cartoonmuseum Basel exhibits Barbara Yelin’s original art from ‘Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory’

An exhibition of Barbara Yelin’s original drawings, including works from SCVN’s 2023 publication Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory (Emmie Arbel. Die Farbe der Erinnerung), will open at the Cartoonmuseum in Basel, Switzerland on November 28, 2026. The exhibition, simply titled “Barbara Yelin,” will be on display until March 7, 2027.

On Emmie Arbel the museum notes, “Yelin recently adapted the biography and memoirs of Emmie Arbel, who survived three Nazi concentration camps as a child, into a graphic novel–a multi-layered and critical reflection on memory. The collaborative project ‘Wie geht es dir?’ (How are you doing?), which she co-initiated, will be published in autumn 2025. It addresses the topics of racism and anti-Semitism, and responds in a nuanced way to current events in the Middle East.”

Page 21 from Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory (Emmie Arbel. Die Farbe der Erinnerung) by Barbara Yelin (2023).

Describing Yelin’s other work, the exhibition also writes, “[Yelin] is known for atmospherically dense graphic novels with sensitively told stories. In her first books, ‘Le Visiteur’ (2004) and ‘Le Retard’ (2006), which were initially published in France, she established her style: narratively powerful, visually nuanced. Her work often focuses on stories of women’s lives, embedded in well-researched, historically accurate contexts. In order to avoid clichés and to convey politically charged themes in new images, Yelin uses ambivalence and ruptures: Each of her albums is stylistically unique and the drawing technique always depends on the content. In ‘Gift’ (Poison), she portrayed a female serial killer executed in the early 19th century, while in ‘Irmina’, a young woman is faced with the opportunity to climb the social ladder under the Nazi regime.”

According to the Cartoonmuseum, this will be Yelin’s first major solo exhibition featuring original and independent works, and illustrations for magazines and children’s books.

The opening of the exhibition is on Friday, November 27. Learn more here.

There will also be two Cartoon Sunday workshops with Barbara at the Cartoonmuseum entitled ‘How are you doing?’

More information, including opening times and the gallery’s location, is available on the Cartoonmuseum’s website.

“Zeichnen ist Denken” (Drawing is Thinking), Barbara Yelin, (2019).