2023 Senior Exhibition Artists

Paolina Fornari

Art + Design: Integrated Studio Arts

About Paolina Fornari

Paolina Fornari is an illustrator of Filipino and Italian heritage from Malden, MA. She spent years consuming cartoons and webcomics and owes her early artistic development to a near-obsessive need to make fanart for her interests. Her love of making art in a variety of ways motivated her to pursue a BFA in Integrated Studio Arts, which she used to focus on illustration, fine art drawing, and animation. She finds herself most moved by art that is personal and vulnerable, and this motivates her to imbue her artwork with her own experiences and hopes.

Statement

Shift-Conscious is a comic about Charlie, a college student who discovers that they have shapeshifting powers which help them build confidence in their identity. So many existing stories about superpowers and alter egos have the potential to be strong metaphors for queer experiences. However, there are few mainstream examples where creators are publicly intentional about these themes. With my thesis, I wanted to add to the wave of new stories that purposefully represent the joys of self-discovery. Through my studies, I have also realized what excites me visually: bright colors, dynamic compositions, angular shapes, and figure drawing. Comics have been a great outlet for me to apply these elements to something meaningful. After graduation, I plan to continue working on and uploading this comic.