An ideal world, Ilona Lok longs for it. A world in which (self) acceptance and expression are the norm, not the exception. A place where people are tolerant, respect each other and where everyone can be free.

Ilona wants to create awareness with her art. The story or message is the basis of every work; form follows function. That is why Ilona works medium-independently. She experiments with paint, photos, prints, fabrics and drawings and uses (mixed) media that best convey the story she wants to tell.

Examples of topics she discusses are self-expression and -acceptance, women’s inequality and the unfair art world, dominated by white men. She strives to make an emotional connection with the viewer. What does the work evoke? Recognition, longing, a sense of injustice or merely curiosity?

She creates lively figures and collages in which color and expression play an important role. She is fascinated by the combination of different media and loves sleek shapes and photography. Her background as a graphic designer allows her to use the computer as a creative instrument. All tools and materials together give her enormous freedom to transform her story into a compelling image and a new reality.

In her twenties, Ilona studied Graphic Design at the Willem de Koning Art Academy in Rotterdam (the Netherlands).

Ilona has a lot of experience in devising and developing creative concepts. After completing the Academy of Visual Arts, she worked at various design and advertising agencies as a graphic designer and later as an art director, for brands such as Prénatal, Unilever and Rituals. She then continued as an independent all-round designer and, after an additional HBO study, as a brand designer.

What she enjoyed most about her work as a graphic designer was the conceptual thinking and generating ideas, which meant that she was allowed to come up with all kinds of cool things for brands and organizations. For therein lay her strength.

After a career of 23 years as a designer and art director, she experiences a serious burnout. Gradually it becomes clear that it is time to do something else. In 2023, she decides to dedicate herself completely to making art, in which she can put all her ideas and imagination into unlimited use.

Her inspiration comes from people, stories, travels, books, vlogs, blogs, films, video clips, the latest news and whatever else comes her way. She loves art, film and design. And, not to forget, almost every day she learns something new from her children (aged 13 to 24).

Ilona was born in 1974 and works and lives in Alphen aan den Rijn, near Amsterdam.