MALVINA PENATI

In this interview, we delve into the world of MALVINA PENATI, who share her inspirations and unique perspectives.

Malvina Penati

1. Introduce Yourself to the Casawi Community: What drives you? What's your artistic vision, and what sets you apart from the crowd?

Hi ! I am Malvina, a mixed media illustrator and overall creative based in Milan. My background spans from Fashion styling and communication to Illustration, in which I just graduated from an MA at UAL in London. This is why I like to experiment with different techniques based on how I want to convey the story in each project. I think it is quite evident my passion for other art’s forms, especially literature, through my constant use of writing, which always played an important role in my practice. Recurring themes of my work are memories and nostalgia, mainly those of other people that I love to narrate.

2. City Inspirations: How has your city influenced your artistic path? Share how its streets, culture, and energy have molded your work.

I have always had strong feelings towards my hometown, but they were always of rejection. I have grown up in a very small town in the north of Italy where the stereotypes are true: everyone knows everyone and their business, religion does play an important role and the people are pretty close minded. So how it has influenced me was through pushing me away, it made me want to leave even when I couldn’t and so I tried living the other places in my life. It made me search elsewhere for inspiration, whether that elsewhere was a physical or digital place.

3. Creative Process: What fuels your creativity? Whether it's a ritual, a muse, or a moment of clarity, we're keen to learn.

My creativity gets fed daily. I mainly get inspired by the people that surround me, both strangers and not, my friends and relatives gift me their stories and memories and I act as their time capsule. I also take inspiration from my day-to-day life: from small interactions to anything that catches my eyes, and the books I read also play an important role in it. I use the craft of creating to metabolize whatever I am experiencing, but I rarely display it in my pieces because I try to let it out during the process of making.

4. City Lifestyle and Art: How the places you lived influenced your career and work?

When I lived in London for my master it was my first time both living abroad and alone, and it was surely a challenging time for many reasons and events. And while I was deciding the topic for my thesis I got struck with the idea of working on my hometown, yes the one I hate. I realised I was homesick, not of the town itself of course, but of the people that were my hometown and I wanted to be close to them while I was working. I ended up doing so much research on my city, because I wanted to explore the past of it and how my relatives experienced it, that I almost reevaluated my relationship to it. But my period in London still inspires me because it was such a bustling city and whenever I am stuck I try and recall the atmosphere I lived for two years.

5. Latest or Upcoming Projects: Give us a glimpse into your current endeavors and what lies ahead on your creative journey.

I graduated this past July so I am currently trying to better find my voice and what it is that I want to pursue. In the meantime I try to create everyday or more precisely, I try to bring creativity into every aspect of my life. I am also figuring out how to further develop my thesis project, which was the creation of a book and also an installation, since I don’t think I have exhausted the stories I wanted to tell and both outcomes were not definitive at all.