Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ana Sofía Navia López. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ana Sofía, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I have been a very timid person my entire life which has pushed me to find my own ways of being resilient. Small tasks such as making friends or participating in conversations have required a lot of effort, which is why I think art became my own manner of connecting with others.
However I truly understood the meaning of resilience when my father, who was my biggest supporter and who I was really close to, died suddenly when I was 14. I found that the challenge to keep going wasn’t so much a choice but a need, and I put all my energy towards academics and my art. This is when themes that I currently discuss began to creep into my work, eventually making it my safe haven for what I didn’t otherwise share which is still in many ways true.
Whenever I feel like giving up I think back to the strength I had at 14 and how I never gave up on my dreams, but it also serves as a reminder that I should take a step back when I don’t feel well. A 14 year old shouldn’t have to prioritize maintaining a 4.0 GPA over grieving and neither should anyone.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Hello! I am Ana Sofía, a Colombian animator and illustrator based in New York. As an artist, I serve as a means of translation for stories woven by my culture, preserving both personal and collective memory as an act of remembrance. My work aims to explore my identity and my connection to Colombia’s past, present and future to provide truth, comfort and connection to anyone who might find it in my stories.
My approach remains loyal to non-fiction and auto-fiction, examining the memoir and the historical. I am constantly seeking ways in which I can preserve memories, exploring the ephemerality of time, nostalgia and endings all revolving around my culture and my upbringing during a war. My practice takes the form of experimental time based media such as graphic memoir and animation, but occasionally includes children’s books.
I am currently studying Illustration and Comics & Graphic Narrative at Parsons School of Design, where I am co-president and co-founder of the Animation Student Group, at which we host guests such as Titmouse, BUCK, Golden Wolf and other indie animators!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
There is an undeniable stigma associated with art-related careers that has followed me since the early days of expressing that I wanted to be an artist in a Colombian household. Though my mother has since been very supportive of my dreams and I’m very thankful for that, those fears stick around and make us doubt our abilities in such a competitive field. Nevertheless, I have collected pieces of advice that have grounded me in moments of uncertainty.
1. My first piece of advice, that I still have to remind myself of, is that my voice and stories matter. Especially when I moved to the United States to pursue my degree in Illustration, I found it difficult to make my classmates and faculty comprehend and care about my work. Being one of the only Latina students in my grade, my work was often turned down by those who did not understand it and I began to question if my cultural and personal subjects had any realistic value. But no, another’s ignorance should not determine the legitimacy of your work, and this applies to any other field! Fight for what you think is important and put it out there!
2. I think what has helped me improve the most in these past years, is consuming things. Whether it’s books, movies, music, performances, learning from other artists and seeing how they approach topics I discuss in my work or how they resolve obstacles I’m finding in a certain project, has really guided my practice.
3. Finally, and this applies to other fields of work, building or finding a community and talking to people has been the biggest piece of advice that was given to me and that I (try to) practice currently. As an extremely socially anxious person from a very young age, I have always struggled with this, and as expected, ‘networking’ or making conversation for purely professional purposes, felt insincere and has been even harder for me.
Nevertheless, the art world in particular is very open about giving advice and helping you find your way. If you genuinely care about an artist’s work, go to their events and express excitement for what they do if you feel brave enough to talk! You can even attend these events in silence, observe and watch the art, maybe listen to a Q&A. Even putting yourself out there in more casual ways goes a long way. Creating or attending a club, going to a friend’s party, talking to experts/professors, and/or sharing your work online, could introduce you to new people who can guide your journey.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I think in this past year I have been allowing myself to be more playful with my work and experimenting with other mediums, particularly in the manner in which form and materiality can provide even more depth to my work.
Though my work tends to rely on the factual, I have always been open to its poetic adaptation through metaphors and symbolisms to enhance my storytelling. Nevertheless, it used to be limited to single-image illustrations and I only chose materials due to their functionality or appeal. Despite this being alright, I discovered that there was much more to be transmitted and inferred through the use of materials.
This, along with my first encounters with animation and my need to return to analogue mediums, encouraged me to make this year one of explorations. I particularly became absorbed by the possibilities of experimenting with time based media, including comics and animation and how the materials I use, can push my intentions further.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://anasnavia.wixsite.com/anasofianavia
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawrts/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-sof%C3%ADa-navia-l%C3%B3pez-320990209/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pawrts
Image Credits
Ana Sofía Navia López
