Matera 2019

Born in Matera in 1990, Marìca is an illustrator and art educator who is convinced that art is the solution to any problem. In 2014 she completed a three-year degree in Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the University of Basilicata and in the final year she worked in the restoration lab at the B. Greco Archeological Museum in Mondragone (province of Caserta). In 2015 she joined UNESCO’s Young Italians Association where she is the contact person for the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research in Basilicata.

She studied illustration at the Red House Lab Comic Illustration School in Potenza and obtained a diploma in 2016 under the guidance of Giulio Giordano (Bonelli Comics). In the same year with the Red House team she designed a comic strip for the graphic novel: “A narrator on a winter’s night. Comic strips on Italo Calvino’s work” published by BeccoGiallo Editore. She has also illustrated works for Altrimedia Edizioni and UNESCO Youth.

She collaborates with Basilicata’s Museum Services in display design and activities promoting art and childhood in museum workshops.

She is a tutor for the Italian Sports Union in Matera and the Italian Ministry of the Environment on the school project ArcheoGiocando.

In 2017 she collaborated with MateraHub Cultural and Creative Industries on the European programme Erasmus+ in Cordoba for the project Break In The Desk, which develops transferable skills for artists and creatives in tourism offices.

With two other creatives she set up the Team Art collective, which operates in both editorial illustration for children and wall art. Her research on urban art started from her collaboration with children in planning a work to be realised: student groups, summer schools and local community groups propose art works and collaborate in the field with the artists to create the work.

In 2018, with a thesis on ‘silent books’ describing the relationship between children and museums in an  annexe full of illustrations, she was awarded a Masters in Linguistics and Communication for Museums at the University of Basilicata.

In the same year she was chosen to take part in the Build Up programme of Matera European Capital of Culture 2019, where she is currently working on school-related activities and relations between residents and the city.