I am an animator and moving image maker.
My interest in animation grew out of a desire to have more tools for storytelling–specifically in thinking about place-based animism and a curiosity about how vastly different cultures/religions historically and presently imbue place with personhood, sympathetic magic, or animistic qualities forming a foundation of knowledge, belief systems, or in times of crisis a desperate incantation of hope.
I came of age on the northwest bank of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo on the El Paso/Juárez border. The importance of movement as it concerns the dignity of people and rivers was a formative part of my childhood and the foundation of the transnational collaborations I work on today.
I am an assistant professor of Illustration and Animation at The University of Arizona and have previously taught at CUNY Queens College, SUNY Albany, and in 2019 I was a visiting professor at la Universidad de las Américas, Puebla.
Through a generous film/video grant from the Jerome Foundation, I produced an animated essay titled 100 Partially Obscured Views/100 Vistas Parcialmente Oscurecidas (2015-2023). The film traces the roots of colonial treaties, policies, and personal history through a series of archival postcards depicting El Paso, Juárez, and parts of New Mexico. The film periodically returns to the center of the river with two names as a site of witness and arrival in this contemporary moment. Upcoming screenings at The Border Biennial at the El Paso Museum of Art, Antimatter Film Festival, Ontario, BC, and Biophilia, Texcoco and Oaxaca, Mexico
In 2021 I was awarded a commission from the The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) with generous support from The City of New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to animate and illustrate four episodes of a Covid-19 explainer to provide an educational and visually friendly series accessible to a diverse and inter-generational audience. The four-part series was unique in that it introduced zoonotic virus transmission and illustrated the way in which deforestation and extreme climate events create favorable conditions for viruses to spread. The series was translated into Mandarin and Spanish and has been recognized with a 2023 Anthem Award.
Erin Chapman, New Media Producer AMNH
Nicole Antebi: Animation, Illustration
Hannah Snell, Motion Designer
Translations: Spanish, Mandarin Commission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleantebi
Contact: nantebi@arizona.edu
