Biography

 Gaia Alari is an Italian visual artist, award-winning illustrator and animation filmmaker based in Europe. She served as the President of the Illustration Jury at the 105th ADC awards (2026) by the Art Directors Club (The one club of creativity).

During her studies in medicine and surgery (2009 – 2016), she also develops her artistic competences as a self- taught illustrator and visual artist. 

She has therefore pursued a career as a visual artist specializing in works on paper. As of 2020, she has been focusing on directing and animating experimental video-art animation projects and commissioned animation – including music videos, specializing in traditional frame-by-frame hand animation, usually as a one-woman team. She collaborates with Colector Gallery (Mexico, Usa) and Illustrazioni Seriali (Italy – Asia). 

She regularly collaborates with major and independent international music labels. She took part in the collective lyric video for “feelslikeimfallinginlove” by Coldplay, winner of best animation in a music video at the UKMVA. Amongst her  notable collaborations with the music industry: the animated vignette for Garden Interlude, part of Alessia Cara‘s album trailer “Love & Hyperbole”, the hand drawn frame by frame animated music videos for Eric Clapton (EPC Enterprises) and for Iron & Wine (SupPop). Her animated video clips have been screened at film festivals around the world. 

Among her most notable commercial work: the “Never Beaten” campaign for Beats by Dre – creative director Casey Ryder, “The Caterpillar Journey”campaign for HOKA X UNNA with Newland TV, “Cyber Week” for Anthropologie, “The ladybug” spring campaign for Aritzia, “Il Viaggio Meraviglioso” for Feudi di San Gregorio – creative director: Riccardo Ruini.

She is currently in production on her first animated short “What comes at night” with La Cellule Production (France). The film received the FAIA dev from the CNC, was presented at the pitches of the Rennes animation festival and the Annecy MIFA (2023) where it received the NEF animation residency prize at the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud (October 2023). The film also won a production grant from the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, Charente department,  Region Sud and Region Auvergne /Rhone Alps and the production fund from CNC.

She illustrated cover, feature story and animated the interactive article “Walnut and me” by Sam Anderson on The New York Times Magazine, issue June 3rd 2024, winner of the ASME award for Best Illustrated Story at the 2025 National Magazine Awards, winner of Best of Discipline: Illustration black cube awarded by the Art Directors Club and of a silver medal for best illustration awarded by the SPD. She also illustrated the op-ed “TV medical dramas are not like real life. Maybe they should be” by Dr Daniela J Lamas in October 2024, published on The New York Times. She collaborated with The New Yorker to illustrate the essay “Pigeon Toes” by Ian Frazier. She worked with MoMA, bringing to life the somatic exercise recited by somatic therapist Emily Price, published on the museum’s magazine.