All Eyes On: Michelle Botteghi

I think I’ve always been drawn to art since I was in middle school, but up to that point it was a hobby I was decent at and nothing else. It was after getting an art degree in high school that I realized that that was what I wanted to do in my life.
Studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino allowed me to solidify the love I have for all forms of art and explore the art of illustration, printmaking and cinema above all. Since cinema has turned into a huge source of inspiration for my art, I always have a specific scene or even a feeling in my head when I draw, and I tend to always make somewhat of a cinematic frame out of a drawing.

Speaking of which, last year I got to finally combine illustration and cinema within my thesis project Memorie di uno Spettatore, a story freely inspired by Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder about the profound involvement of a viewer in a film. Throughout the years graphite pencils have become the medium that make my art come alive and illustration the main language I use to communicate with others and with myself: I see it as a safe space and a form of therapy because thanks to it I’m able to connect with the past and elaborate personal issues. As of now, I see illustration as the only effective way to talk kindly to myself without necessarily using words.