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Nina Paley

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Nina Paley
Paley in 2009
BornNina Carolyn Paley
(1968-05-03) May 3, 1968 (age 56)
Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
Area(s)Writer, cartoonist, animator
Notable works
blog.ninapaley.com

Nina Carolyn Paley[1] (born May 3, 1968) is an American cartoonist, animator, and free culture activist. She was the artist and often the writer of the comic strips Nina's Adventures and Fluff, after which she worked primarily in animation.[2] She is perhaps best known for creating the 2008 animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues, based on the Ramayana, with parallels to her personal life. In 2018, she completed her second animated feature, Seder-Masochism, a retelling of the Book of Exodus as patriarchy emerging from goddess worship.

Paley distributes much of her work, including Nina’s Adventures, Fluff, and all the original work in Sita Sings The Blues, under a copyleft license.

Since January 2021, Paley runs the gender critical podcast Heterodorx with Corinna Cohn.[3]

Early life

[edit]

Paley was born in Urbana, Illinois,[4] the daughter of Jean (Passovoy) and Hiram Paley.[5] Her family was Jewish.[6] Her father was a mathematics professor at the University of Illinois and was mayor of Urbana for a term in the early 1970s.[7]

She attended local elementary and high schools, graduating from University High School in 1986.[8] She illustrated a "History of the North Pole" comic in collaboration with University High School history teacher Chris Butler, and attended the University of Illinois, studying art for two years before dropping out.[9] While in college, her comic "Joyride" ran in The Daily Illini newspaper.[8]

Nina's Adventures and other work

[edit]
The Hots strip

In 1988, Paley moved to Santa Cruz, California, and began to write and draw the strip Nina's Adventures. In 1991, she illustrated The Santa Cruz Haggadah[10] and moved to San Francisco.

In 2002, she wrote and directed Fetch!, a humorous short cartoon feature based on a variety of optical illusions, which has enjoyed popularity ever since.[11][12]

Beginning in 2002, Paley focused her work on the controversial subject of population growth. The most notable entry she produced on this subject was The Stork, in which the natural environment is bombed to destruction by storks dropping bundled babies. The film is a compact expression of the conflict between the increasing human population and the ecosystem in which it must live. The 3½ minute film was a considerable success at festivals and resulted in an invitation to the Sundance Film Festival.[12]

During this period of this time, Paley also contributed several comic strips for the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, of which she is a member and occasional spokesperson.[13] Her work for the group still remains on their official website.[14]

In 2012, Paley posted an animation to Vimeo titled This Land Is Mine depicting the Middle East conflicts over history; it was named a Staff Pick.[15]

Between projects, Paley has worked as a freelance director at Duck Studios in Los Angeles.[16] She has also taught in the Design and Technology section of Parsons, part of The New School.[17]

Apocalypse Animated

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apocalypse Animated.
An animation depicting the Tree of life in Revelation 22:14, part of the project Apocalypse Animated

In February 2022, Paley completed her project Apocalypse Animated, creating nearly 300 animated loops for the Book of Revelation.[18][19] Paley also created lenticular cards of 10 selected animations.[20][21] Paley released Ultra HD (3840 × 2160 pixel) uncompressed Apple ProRes videos of almost 12 minutes of animation under a CC-BY-SA license and encouraged remixing of the material, proposing an audio reading of the Book of Revelation and mixing it with the animation.[22]

Feature films

[edit]

As of 2018, Paley has created two animated feature films.

Sita Sings the Blues

[edit]
Main article: Sita Sings the Blues

In 2002, Paley moved to Trivandrum, India, where her husband had taken a job. While she was visiting New York City on business concerning her third comic strip, The Hots, her husband terminated their marriage. Unable to return to either Trivandrum or San Francisco, she moved to Brooklyn, New York. Her personal crisis caused her to see more deeply into the Ramayana, the Indian epic, which she had encountered in India, and motivated her to produce a short animation which combines an episode from the Ramayana with a torch song recorded in 1929 by Annette Hanshaw, "Mean To Me".[23] Paley later added episodes and other material to the work, which is now called Sita Sings the Blues. Many of the episodes appeared in animation festivals. She expanded it into a feature-length treatment of the Ramayana focused on Rama's wife, Sita, using a variety of animation styles and techniques.

The finished work premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 2008[24][25] and had its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25, 2008.[17] The film was screened at more than 150 film festivals globally[26] and was broadcast on PBS in New York City.[27] For her work on Sita Sings the Blues, Paley was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award[28] and garnered more than 35 international awards,[26] including the top award at Annecy in 2008.[29] The New York Times review of Sita described it as "ambitious and visually loaded" and the film was named a NYT Critic's Pick.[30]

Seder-Masochism

[edit]
Main article: Seder-Masochism
The musical number "This Land Is Mine" from Seder-Masochism

In 2011 she began work on a project called Seder-Masochism,[6] an animated film about The Exodus, showing the rise of patriarchy and the fall of goddess worship. In June 2018, after she had worked sporadically on the film for six years, Seder-Masochism premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.[31][32][33] Reviewers compared Paley's style to Monty Python, and praised the film's irreverent humor.[34][35] In Poland, the film was screened at the ANIMATOR film festival where it was chosen by the audience as the festival's best feature-length animated film.[36]

Prior to the theatrical release of the film, Paley uploaded selected scenes for viewing on YouTube and Vimeo. The scene "This Land Is Mine" was first posted in 2012, and by 2014 had received 10 million views combined across the two platforms.[37]

Free culture activism

[edit]
"Copying is not theft!" badge with a character resembling Mimi and Eunice

Because of obstacles in clearing the rights to Hanshaw's recordings for the Sita Sings the Blues, Paley took active part in the free culture movement.[27][38]

Since 2009 she is an artist-in-residence at the non-profit organization QuestionCopyright.org,[26] which includes running the projects "Minute Memes" and the "Sita Distribution Project".[39] "Minute Memes"[40] is a series of short ("one-minute") video "memes" made by Paley about copyright restrictions and artistic freedom. She wrote and performed the song "Copying Isn't Theft" meant to be freely remixed by other people,[41] with the animated clip issued as Minute Meme #1.[42] Subtitles for the song were created in 10 other languages and performances in Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, and Spanish were published.[43]

Subsequent animations in this series are "All Creative Work Is Derivative",[44] EFF Tribute[45] and "Credit is Due: The Attribution Song".[46] She also wrote "Understanding Free Content", an illustrated guide to the idea of free content.[47]

Mimi says: Copying without permission is stealing! Eunice says: Copying without permission is stealing! Mimi shouts at Eunice: THIEF!
Mimi & Eunice strip no.109 "Thief"

On 9 March 2010, Paley started publishing on her blog a new three-panel comic strip, Mimi & Eunice, highlighting intellectual property problems and paradoxes.[2][48] The strip has simple graphic style, and features two characters: Mimi (with pointy ears) and Eunice (with floppy ears), who Paley describes as "two middle-aged children/baby psychos/heterosexual lesbians".[49] It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.[48] In 2010, a Mimi & Eunice book was released, entitled Misinformation Wants To Be Free, with around 200 full color "Mimi & Eunice" strips.[50]

She has published much of her work, including Nina’s Adventures, Fluff, and all original work in Sita Sings The Blues, under a copyleft licence.[51] The website for Sita Sings the Blues includes a wiki where its fans contributed translated subtitles for the DVD of the film.[52]

Paley won a Public Knowledge IP3 award in 2010 "for her work in intellectual property".[53]

Views on gender

[edit]

Paley describes herself as gender critical and writes often about the topic on her blog and social media.[54][55] A showing of Seder-Masochism in 2019 was protested by trans rights activists in Champaign, Illinois due to her online comments.[56] She was a signatory to an open letter published by The Sunday Times defending J. K. Rowling against criticism for transphobia.[57][58] In an interview with Feminist Current, she stated that when referencing transgender people, she does not necessarily use the pronouns that the person uses. She said, "If a man uses 'she' pronouns... I'm adamant that he is free to identify as he wants. But we're also all free to identify things how we perceive them."[59] Paley is a cohost of the gender critical podcast, Heterodorx.[60]

Personal life

[edit]

Though of Jewish ancestry, Paley is an atheist as was her father.[26][61]

In 2011, Paley began making art quilts. The first public exhibition of her quilts was held in June 2013 in central Illinois.[62]

Works

[edit]
Still image from the feature film Sita Sings the Blues

Comics and comic strips

[edit]

Filmography

[edit]

Features

Shorts

  • Cancer (1998. Drawing directly on film. 2 minutes. Color. 35mm.)
  • Luv Is... (1998. Clay animation. 3.5 minutes. Beta SP / Super-8. Color.)
  • I (heart) My Cat (1998. Clay animation. 3 minutes. 16mm. Color.)
  • Pandorama (2000. Drawing directly on film. 3 minutes. color. 15perf/70mm - also known as "IMAX")
  • Fetch![64] (2001. 2-D computer animation. 4.5 minutes. 35mm. Color.)
  • Thank You for Not Breeding[65] (2002. Documentary. 36 minutes. Video. Color.)
  • The Stork[66] (2002. 2-D computer animation (Flash/Photoshop/Final Cut Pro). 3 minutes. Video. Color.)
  • Goddess of Fertility (2002. 2-D digital animation. 2 minutes. Clay animated on a glass. Color. 35mm.)
  • Fertco (2002. 2-D digital animation. 3 minutes. Color. Video.)
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Cancer[67] (2002. 2-D digital animation. 4.5 minutes. Color. Dialog. Video.)
  • On Children, a segment in Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (2015. 2-D digital animation. Color.)[68]
'Copying is Not Theft' by Paley

Music videos

  • Connie Champagne - "Copying Is Not Theft" (2009) Animation, lyrics, and tune by Paley.[69][43][70]
  • Todd Michaelsen "All Creative Work Is Derivative" (2010) Using Michaelsen's "Sita's String Theory" and Paley's animations.[71][72]
  • Evanescent - "Credit Is Due (The Attribution Song)" (2011) Animation, lyrics, and tune by Paley.[73][74]
  • Intuitive Gym - Her Story. Using Paley's animations.
  • Gala - "Parallel Lines" (2021) Animation by Paley.[75]
  • Milton Estes and His Musical Millers - "When the Fire Comes Down" (2022) Animation from Apocalypse Animated

Other works

[edit]
  • Quilts
  • "Apocalypse Animated" and lenticular cards of its animations.[76]
  • "Agents of H.A.G." Comic Book
  • GENDER WARS Cards[77]
  • "Hundred Dollar Drawings", with instructions limited to two words or less.[78]
  • MysticSymbolic[79]

Media appearances and talks

[edit]
  • The Tom and Doug Show - Paley has been a regular guest on the nationally syndicated Tom and Doug radio show, a weekly comedy music show on the Pacifica Radio Network.[80] She "showed" her film The Wit and Wisdom of Cancer on show 304, discussed her "Christmas Resistance movement" on show 336, discussed Tom and Doug's songs "Gangsta Knitter" and "Sooner or Later" on show 232, discussed Sita Sings the Blues on show 361, and Tom and Doug rewrote her song "Copying is Not Theft" and played it for her on show 377.[81]
  • Talk "Copyright is Brain Damage" at TEDxMaastricht[82]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ PechaKuchaNightCU (March 29, 2016). "Nina Paley: My Car-Free Life". 0:23. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2020 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ a b "Nina Paley". Lambiek Comiclopedia. October 11, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  3. ^ Heterodorx rss feed, anchor.fm.
  4. ^ "Nina Paley". www.imdb.com. 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  5. ^ "Obituaries: Hiram Paley". www.heathandvaughn.com. January 2012. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Merli, Melissa (October 21, 2012). "Studio Visit: Nina Paley". The News-Gazette. Champaign, IL. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  7. ^ Wade, Patrick (January 10, 2012). "Life Remembered: Hiram Paley was a leading progressive for Urbana". The News-Gazette. Champaign, IL. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Merli, Melissa (May 18, 2008). "First movie 'a full-time job' for Uni High grad, illustrator". The News-Gazette. Champaign, IL. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  9. ^ "Alumnuts", ninapaley.com, 24 October 2013.
  10. ^ Roekard, Karen G.R. (1991). The Santa Cruz Haggadah : a Passover Haggadah, coloring book, and journal for the evolving consciousness. illustrations by Nina Paley (private ed.). Capitola, CA: Hineni Consciousness Press. ISBN 9780962891380. OCLC 52729227.
  11. ^ "Fetch! (2002)". IMDb.com. 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "An Animated Discussion: Speaking of the Future with Nina Paley". www.speculist.com. October 16, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  13. ^ "Nina Paley and Mike Treder". bloggingheads.tv. The Nonzero Foundation. September 11, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  14. ^ "VHEMT-related cartoons". vhemt.org. Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  15. ^ Paley, Nina (October 1, 2012). "This Land is Mine". vimeo.com. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  16. ^ "Tiny Inventions Takes to DUCK Studios". Animation Insider. September 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 25, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Discovery: Sita Sings the Blues". www.tribecafilm.com. Tribeca Film Festival. April 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  18. ^ Fogel, Karl (February 26, 2022). "It is done: Nina Paley's 'Apocalypse Animated'". Question Copyright. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  19. ^ "Apocalypse Animated". apocalypseanimated.com. n.d. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  20. ^ "Category: Apocalypse", ninapaley.com.
  21. ^ "ApocalypseAnimated Lenticular Cards Crowdfunder Video", Nina Paley on YouTube, 31 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Have At It", ninapaley.com, 25 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Featured artist - Nina Paley: Sita Sings the Blues". www.flashgoddess.com. October 2005. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  24. ^ "Sita Sings the Blues (2008) Release Info". www.imdb.com. October 2, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  25. ^ Ebert, Roger (2009). "Sita Sings the Blues". Ebertfest.media.illinois.edu. Roger Ebert's Film Festival. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  26. ^ a b c d Merli, Melissa (August 10, 2014). "Paley's 'This Land Is Mine' a viral hit". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  27. ^ a b Merli, Melissa (April 20, 2009). "Urbana native's film part of her push for free culture". The News-Gazette. Champaign, IL. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  28. ^ Moody, Annemarie (December 2, 2008). "Sita Sings Blues Creator Nominated For Indie Spirit Award". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  29. ^ Ramanathan, Lavanya (September 25, 2008). "An Ancient Tale, Newly Animated". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  30. ^ Scott, A.O. (December 24, 2009). "Legendary Breakups: Good (Animated) Women Done Wrong in India". The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  31. ^ Amid Amidi (April 23, 2018). "Annecy 2018: 23 Animated Feature Films In Official Selection". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  32. ^ "Seder-Masochism (2018) Release Info". www.imdb.com. June 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  33. ^ Croll, Ben (June 10, 2018). "Annency: 'Seder-Masochism' Director Nina Paley: 'I Have No Idea How This Movie Will Go Into the World'". variety.com. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  34. ^ Luis Martinez (June 14, 2018). "El patriarcado desacralizado y otros milagros de la animación radical en Annecy". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  35. ^ Matthieu Ruard (June 2018). "Annecy 2018 | Wall / Seder-Masochism". Courte-Focale (in French). Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  36. ^ "Here Are the Winners". ANIMATOR festival. July 12, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  37. ^ Roz Warren (August 13, 2014). "How Nina Paley Made 'This Land Is Mine' Viral". The Schmooze. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  38. ^ Bell, Melissa (April 6, 2012). "Online leaders look to create offline experiences". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  39. ^ "About QuestionCopyright.org". QuestionCopyright.org. 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  40. ^ "Minute Memes". QuestionCopyright.org. November 25, 2008. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  41. ^ "Copying Isn't Theft" -- Your Versions". QuestionCopyright.org. April 3, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  42. ^ Paley, Nina (December 14, 2009). "Copying Is Not Theft (Minute Meme #1)". QuestionCopyright.org. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  43. ^ a b "Copying Is Not Theft (Minute Meme #1)", questioncopyright.org, 15 December 2009.
  44. ^ Paley, Nina (February 9, 2010). "All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)". QuestionCopyright.org. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  45. ^ "Electronic Frontier Foundation celebrates 20 years with new animation from Nina Paley". QuestionCopyright.org. July 10, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  46. ^ Paley, Nina (June 27, 2011). "Credit is Due (The Attribution Song)". QuestionCopyright.org. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  47. ^ Paley, Nina (April 2, 2009). "Understanding Free Content". QuestionCopyright.org. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  48. ^ a b Paley, Nina. "About". Mimi and Eunice. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  49. ^ Paley, Nina (June 21, 2010). "Mimi & Eunice". Nina Paley's Blog. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  50. ^ Doctorow, Cory (May 10, 2011). "Nina Paley's Kickstarter project for copyfighting comic tracts". Boing Boing. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  51. ^ Paley, Nina (November 2010). "Frequently Asked Questions". www.sitasingstheblues.com. Retrieved August 19, 2018. The whole struggle with our broken copyright system turned me into a Free Culture activist. I'm actually going to release all my old "Nina's Adventures" and "Fluff" comics under a Share Alike (copyleft) license too.
  52. ^ See its lists of subtitles Archived May 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine and screenings Archived December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  53. ^ Brodsky, Art (August 3, 2010). "Public Knowledge Presents Seventh IP3 Awards to Samuelson, Crawford, Geist and Paley". www.publicknowledge.org. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  54. ^ "TERFy Archives". ninapaley.com. March 21, 2023.
  55. ^ Baron, Reuben (July 30, 2018). "Cartoon Controversies: 10 Times Fans Were Wrong (And 10 Times Creators Were Wrong)". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  56. ^ Dey, Jim (May 7, 2019). "Furor over gender issues puts Urbana artist's film in crosshairs". The News-Gazette. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  57. ^ Hellen, Nicholas (September 27, 2020). "Literati rally to JK Rowling's defence in row over Cormoran Strike book". The Sunday Times. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  58. ^ O'Connor, Roisin (September 28, 2020). "JK Rowling: Ian McEwan and Graham Linehan among literary figures to support author amid transphobia row". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  59. ^ Acosta, Katherine M. (May 8, 2019). "Interview: Nina Paley on 'Seder-Masochism,' censorship, and her fight for a free culture". Feminist Current. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  60. ^ "Heterodorx RSS Feed". heterodorx.com. n.d. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  61. ^ Dolle, Pauline (April 3, 2018). "Moses make-over by animator Nina Paley will have you grooving". nycreligion.info. A Journey Through NYC Religions. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  62. ^ Merli, Melissa (June 13, 2013). "Urbana artist Paley putting quilt art on display". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  63. ^ "Drivin’ That Train", ninapaley.com, 1 June 2014.
  64. ^ DuckStudiosLA (June 12, 2008). "DUCK Studios: Nina Paley: "Fetch"". Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2018 – via YouTube.
  65. ^ "Thank You For Not Breeding - a short film by Nina Paley". Vimeo. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  66. ^ anthropik (July 15, 2006). "The Stork". Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2018 – via YouTube.
  67. ^ anthropik (July 15, 2006). "The Wit & Wisdom of Cancer". Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2018 – via YouTube.
  68. ^ Murphy, Mekado (August 5, 2015). "Bill Plympton Lends His Animation Skills to 'Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet'". The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  69. ^ Nina Paley at the Internet Archive
  70. ^ "Copying Is Not Theft - Official Version", Question Copyright on YouTube, 1 Apr 2010.
  71. ^ ninapaley "All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)", questioncopyright.org, 10 February 2010.
  72. ^ Nina Paley at the Internet Archive
  73. ^ Nina Paley at the Internet Archive
  74. ^ ninapaley. "Credit is Due (The Attribution Song)", questioncopyright.org, 27 June 2011.
  75. ^ "Parallel Lines", ninapaley.com, 15 February 2021.
  76. ^ "Category: Apocalypse", ninapaley.com.
  77. ^ "GENDER WARS Cards", heterodorx.com.
  78. ^ "Hundred Dollar Drawings – now $150" ninapaley.com.
  79. ^ "Category: MysticSymbolic", ninapaley.com.
  80. ^ Doug, Tom and. "Radio Show". www.tomanddoug.com. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  81. ^ "AudioPort.Org -". audioport.org. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  82. ^ "Copyright is Brain Damage | Nina Paley | TEDxMaastricht", youtube.com.
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