Olivia caught our eye a while back during a scroll through Instagram, where her work lights up the screen. Olivia is currently based in Bournemouth and chatted to us about her upcoming pursuit, where it all stems from and how happy she is that she’s embarked on a journey that follows her passion.
“I won’t lie, I have always loved cartoons, from Saturday morning Tom & Jerry as a kid to Rick & Morty and Studio Ghibli in the present. But it was never something I felt I could ever pursue. Like most young people in Jersey, I thought finance/academics was my path.
“Although my love for drawing and anime is what you’d assume has led me down the path of animation, it was actually my pursuit of philosophy and psychology that motivated me. I’ve always been a big reader and aside from animation, reading philosophy and psychology is one of my biggest interests. The complexities and possibilities of human nature intrigue me. Maybe this is why I am so drawn to animation; creatively, it opens a whole world of possibilities – ‘animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive’ (Walt Disney). With Philosophy, I am drawn to concepts of non-duality, fluidity and disregarding gender norms; animation blurs those lines as well. I believe animation will help me in dismantling prejudices and present different philosophical concepts in coherent ways. And hopefully I’ll be abl
e to making people smile at the same time.
“I taught myself to illustrate over the years and whilst I do love illustrating, I want to push myself to really create emotion and cause discussions with my characters, create personalities which those who feel cast out can relate to. I know when I was younger I often recognised myself in fictional characters when I had no creativ
e role models around and I think this was really crucial in helping me see there was an alternate reality where I could be my authentic self and pursue my dreams – I’d like to hope I can pass this down to Jersey youth at some point in the future.
“The past few years, I have spent time working and travelling in different countries. Speaking to so many different people from all different cultures and walks-of-life has really inspired me to use the medium of animation to voice unheard stories, whilst exploring the scope of my imagination, I believe that, ‘The meaning of art is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’ This encapsulates the work I intend to do.
“I often reflect on the long path I took after school to end up back at university studying animation at 24 and I wonder if it could have been less painful. I realise now the determination and certainty in my pursuit of my dreams I feel today, could only be gained through the path I had to take and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Check out Olivia’s artwork on Instagram at @og.artwork
If you want to be immortalised as a kick-ass anime character (like she’s done for our pal, B-EAZY) or something utterly unique, drop her a DM…
Here’s to conquering the world with creativity, Olivia!
