Working primarily in oil on canvas, she draws on both classical traditions and contemporary visual culture, producing scenes that feel at once intimate, cinematic, and quietly unsettling.
Her paintings often explore themes of vulnerability, human connection, and the tension between innocence and the increasingly mediated nature of everyday experience.
Kornilova studied at the Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Art and Design before continuing her training at the prestigious Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in St. Petersburg.
This academic foundation is evident in her strong draftsmanship and layered painterly approach, while her subject matter remains distinctly contemporary. Combining realism with subtle symbolism, she constructs emotionally charged narratives that encourage reflection rather than direct interpretation.
Children frequently appear within her work, serving not as portraits of individuals but as universal figures through which broader social and emotional questions emerge.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition at Mall Galleries in London and the London Art Biennale. Through carefully composed imagery and luminous colour, Kornilova creates paintings that invite prolonged looking and emotional engagement.
Balancing delicacy with tension, her practice continues to investigate how memory, technology, and personal experience shape the ways we see ourselves and each other.