We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ana Sofía Navia López. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ana Sofía below.

Alright, Ana Sofía thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I always knew this is what I wanted but I also knew that realistically this wasn’t what most people wanted from me, particularly in my home country, Colombia. Growing up in an environment where art wasn’t considered proved difficult for me to feel confident in my work. I had a very negative idea of what art could be and I stored it in the back of my head as a fantasy I could practice only in my free time.
This was until I travelled abroad to the United States at 11-years-old and met friends who taught me about the online art community, which led me to becoming more educated in animation and illustration and began to see them as potential career paths.

Ana Sofía, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Art has always been my third, and most developed language. Though it started off with a passion for My Little Pony, I slowly began to look inside myself to define what I really wanted my work to be.

As a Colombian animator and illustrator based in New York City, my art is currently an attempt at exploring my identity and connection to Colombia’s past, present and future to provide truth, comfort and connection.
My approach remains loyal to 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-founder of the Animation Student Group, at which we host studios and other indie animators. I’ve also worked as an compositor for Bill Plympton’s most recent film “Slide”.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

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 from me, 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 need to.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

What I have always appreciated about art is its ability to connect individuals and their backgrounds through observation; that moment of silence where you watch, read or look at something and feel for the artist but also feel for yourself. Ever since I began to make more personal work, I’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response not only because of the bravery of sharing these stories, but because people feel an intimate connection to them.

As an animator, it’s also very rewarding to see the frames come together into video form!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anasnavia.com/
• 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
• Other: https://vimeo.com/pawrts

Image Credits
All photos belong to Ana Sofía Navia López