In this panel, moderator Juliana Erazo will pick the minds of BIPOC artists within the creative industry, to discuss how their background and experiences nurtured their visual storytelling. The panel will open up discussions regarding the importance of ensuring a diversity of backgrounds and points of views within the creative industries.
Confirmed artists for this panel are Godwin Akpan, Kim de Ruyter and Lia Booi. Visual artist Juliana Erazo will be moderating the discussion.
Godwin Akpan
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, digital artist Godwin Akpan is a true testament of how far you self-teaching and pure determination can take you. Despite having a college degree for art, Godwin attributes most of his learning and skills-polishing to online resources such as YouTube tutorials and Schoolism courses. The result? His comic books ‘Iyanu’ (created with his friend Roye Okupe) got picked up by HBO Max to be turned into an animation.
Kim de Ruyter
Kim de Ruyter is a trans female filmmaker and Animation Design Alumni. Through her projects Kim hopes to eliminate alienation towards queer people while also managing to express some of her sensitivity. Kim also wants to make people aware of the inequality in this hetero-normative society and how, despite the fact that the Netherlands is portrayed as a progressive country, there is still a lot of vulnerability and fear in the LGBT+ community, because acceptance is still not self-evident. In 2021 she received a Wildcard from Dutch Film Fund for her short film Bekeken.
Lia Booi
Lia Booi studied Animation at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, where she graduated from in 2018. As a freelancer, she specializes in concept development, character design and 2D animation. Lia aspires to tell stories and create dynamic characters that tackle unconventional subjects, with a touch of humor. Her passions lie with storytelling and a fascination for the eccentric and misunderstood. As a Bonairean, her work is often inspired by her own cultural heritage and the vast multicultural community around her, who continue to question what we might consider to be “the norm” instead of adhering to it.
Juliana Erazo
Juliana Erazo is a Colombian visual artist and a recent graduate of an Animation Master at AKV. St. Joost. Her work focuses deeply on reflecting the female experience in different contexts and cultures that make up different struggles: from body normativity, sexuality and motherhood.