Simone Matias
Illustrator based in Santos, Brazil
I’m based in Santos, Brazil and discovered the art of illustration during an interchange program in the USA, in 2000. The kids I looked after had many books that I used to read to them and I felt in love with that form of art. “I always liked drawing and used to spend hours drawing on the chalkboard hanging on the wall at home, but until then I had never imagined that I could work with it.
I’ve illustrated more than 80 kid’s books in Brazil since 2007 and also have done book covers. In 2024, I’ve released my first book as an author, the silent book Azul de lá. I’m also an art teacher and a philosophy volunteer teacher at New Acropolis Phylosophy School.
I have studied illustration at Scuola Internazionale d'Illustrazione – Sàrmede, Italy (2006) and live drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art, New Jersey, USA (2017).
Artist statement
My work is deeply intertwined with literature. Like a story, book illustration expands horizons, creates lived experiences, and allows us to recognize what is still diffuse within us, giving shape to what we do not yet know how to name. For me, illustrating is a way of listening to and looking at life, of understanding others, and of inhabiting places that utilitarian language ignores. It is through this gesture that I seek beauty as a force of awakening—one capable of pulling us out of the anesthetized torpor imposed by values of productivity, efficiency, and utilitarianism, and of reminding us of our own humanity through enchantment and poetry.
Awards
2024
Sylvia Orthof Prize for Children’s Literature, awarded by the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional / First Place – Book Um gigante tão pequeno, written by Márcio Vassallo and illustrated by Simone Matias Abacatte Publishing.
2024
Highly Recommended Seal awarded by FNLIJ – Book A Avó que sabia das coisas, by Nana Toledo and Simone Matias. Gato Leitor Publishing.
2022
PROLELI/UNESP Award – Best Illustration for the book Essa casa que é só minha, written by Claudio Fragata, presented at the 7th Children’s and Young Adult Literature Congress, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. Aletria Publishing.
2016
Cátedra 10 Distinction Seal, granted by the UNESCO Chair of Reading and PUC-Rio – Book João, Joãozinho, joãozito, written by Claudio Fragata and Simone Matias. Record Publishing.
2015
Selected for the “Leia com uma Criança” project by Itaú Cultural – Book Tatu-Balão, by Sônia Barros and Simone Matias. Aletria Publishing.
Art exhibition
2023
-
Collective Illustration Exhibit at Traçando Histórias 2023 - Porto Alegre Book Fair, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2018
-
Exhibit “Mulheres Impressões de corpo e Alma” (Women: body and soul). Cadeia Velha in Santos (historical site), SP
-
Exhibit “Fabulário Fantástico”, at La Casita, in Santos/SP
2015
-
Quest illustrator at Flipinha, the kid’s books section of the Paraty International Literary Festival - FLIP. Paraty, RJ, Brazil
2014
-
Exhibit “As Cores das Letras - A Ilustração de Livros por Simone Matias” (The Colors of the Words-The illustration by Simone Matias) at Shopping Pátio Iporanga, Santos/SP .
2013
-
Collective Illustration Exhibit at the 15° FNLIJ Book Fair - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2012
-
Collective Illustration Exhibit at Traçando Histórias 2012 - Porto Alegre Book Fair, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2010
-
Collective Illustration Exhibit at Traçando Histórias 2010 - Porto Alegre Book Fair, Porto Alegre, Brazil.