About The Artist
Marissa Vazhappilly is a mixed-media animator and multidisciplinary storyteller based in Baltimore, MD. Drawing from the complications of the idea of a ‘home’ and their own experiences as a queer Desi-Malayalee-American, they seek to challenge prescriptive roles and hierarchies with rushes of raw emotion. With a labor-intensive stop-motion practice, they create material worlds that can be touched as much as seen. They expand beyond the bounds of film - bringing the work behind the scenes beyond the curtain and into gallery and print.
They received their BFA in Animation from the Maryland Institute College of Art and have worked across films, music videos, poetry and print. Their visual poem and material experiment You Are Praying was presented as part of the 2023 Stick in the Dirt Student Animation Festival and won the Best Craft/Technique Award. Their most recent film, A Tharavadu is An Ancestral Home/ഈ തറവാട്ടിൽ ഒരു ആത്മാവ് ഉണ്ട്, is an exploration of their relationship with their mother tongue that is currently making its festival circuit.
CV
Education
- Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
- Animation BFA, Class of 2024, Summa Cum Laude
Commissions & Collaborations
2024 -
- Old Soul Official Music Video, Commissioned by LemonTech
- Kiddush Levanah Contributor, Commissioned by the Jewish Museum of Baltimore
2023 -
- Heartbreak in Hawaii Official Music Video, Collab with LemonTech
Screenings/Featured in
2025 -
- Citrus Circuit Winter Season Film Festival (Miami, Florida) - Winter Season Best Animated Short
- 8th International Folklore Film Festival (Thrissur, India)
- 2025 Tavern Brawl (Virtual)
2024 -
- Goa Short Film Festival 2024 (Goa, India)
- MICA 2024 Artwalk (Baltimore, MD)
- Stick in the Dirt Student Animation Festival 2024 (Baltimore, MD)
- 2024 Tavern Brawl Animation Festival (Virtual)
2023 -
- FIAF Animation Jam Screening (New York City, NY)
- 2023 Stick in the Dirt Student Animation Festival - Best Craft/Technique award (Baltimore, MD)
2022 -
- Experimental Animation & Animation Production Showcase 2022 (Baltimore, MD)
Exhibitions
2024 -2023 -
- it feels right to me (January 2024) - MICA Middendorf Gallery (Baltimore, MD)
- Practical Stampede (Feb-March 2024) - Rosenberg Gallery, MICA Brown Center (Baltimore, MD)
- MICA ArtWalk (May 2024) - Rosenberg Gallery, MICA Brown Center & Falvey Hall (Baltimore, MD)
- AT THE CENTER (Sept-Oct 2023) — MICA Office of Culture and Identity (Baltimore, MD)
Print & Publications
2024 -2022 -
- Room 47.3, Bodies - Contributor
- Suburban Prisms - Organizer & Contributor