Sara Priorelli’s animations hold a magnifying glass to our habits, quirks and imaginations

Sara Priorelli’s love for animation comes from her obsession with the human body. “I just love the way 2D animation and the frame-by-frame technique allows me to play with proportions without limits,” she tells us. When you look at her work, something else is apparent – she is also obsessed with the human mind, as she magnifies our quirks, relationships and behaviours. Working with mainly digital animation, she can sometimes be found taking a break from her laptop and experimenting with a light box, finding myriad of ways to distort and amplify bodies and gestures. “Sometimes I’m even making short comics that allow me to experiment with words,” she adds.

Hailing from Italy and now living in Budapest, Sara is currently studying a masters in Animation at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, where she forged a style based on a non-traditional approach to animation. “I learned how to animate before I learned how to draw,” she tells us. She also credits growing up in a large family and taking inspiration from Estonian animation which dates back to the 1930s. This becomes evident in her illustrations depicting the tragic and comedic elements of everyday life. “They have influenced my way of perceiving and expressing movement. For me, it’s all about exploring bizarre people in social contexts, and Estonian animations work with such a combination of irony and creepy, along with some really absurd stories.”