After graduating in Sculpture, Marilena Nardi began working as a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice.
She has published in many Italian magazines including Diario, Corriere della Sera, L'Antitempo and Il Fatto Quotidiano. She collaborates on a regular basis with Erbacce, Left, Cartoon Movement, Siné Madame, Siné Mensuel, Espoir and Le Monde. Since 15 September 2020, she also works for the newspaper Domani.
As a cartoonist, she has already won numerous awards including the World Press Freedom Cartoon Award (Canada), Forte dei Marmi prize for satirical cartoons (Italy), Saint-Just-le-Martel (France), Concurso de Humor Gráfico in Alcalá de Henares (Spain), Nasreddin Hodja International Cartoon Competition (Turkey), Balls Up Her Arse award ... . She was the first female cartoonist to win the World Press Cartoon Grand Prize (2018) and also the first female winner (in 40 years) in our 23rd Euro-cartoon Kruishoutem (2021).
Her social commitment is obvious through her active contribution to Cartooning for Peace and the scientific committee of Librexpression.
The combination of a job as a professor and cartoonist nicely combines the two souls Marilena carries within her: as a teacher, she can show her extraverted side and caring for others; as a cartoonist, she can fall back on herself. Although she considers herself as being complex and not very easy, she can still state that she always strives to do her best, both at work, and in life. Before a cartoon is created, Nardi makes a lot of sketches, allowing the idea and design to take shape in a natural way.
Nardi: ‘I can't remember who, but someone once said: “the drawing is an idea with a line around it”, and I can fully endorse that. A good cartoon is a good idea brought to life by a quality drawing. And it should make you laugh and think at the same time. I therefore hope that my cartoon can put a smile on the visitor's face and lead to a personal reflection at the same time. It doesn't necessarily have to be how I intended, the important thing is that you are invited to think more about the theme.’
The exhibition at the ECC can be visited from 29 September till 22 December 2024, every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
