Chatting with ... Lilli Carré ’16 MFA

Based in Los Angeles, Lilli Carré ’16 MFA is an interdisciplinary artist and a faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts, where she teaches experimental animation. In 2024 she won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in the film-video category. Her films have appeared at the Sundance Film Festival, European Media Art Festival and other film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Solo exhibitions of her drawings, animations and sculpture have also been held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Western Exhibitions and the Columbus Museum of Art. Northwestern Magazine asked Carré about the inspiration behind her artwork and what she’s exploring next. 

What materials do you use in your art? 

I enjoy shifting between varied mediums as I work — experimental animation, print, comics, drawing, clay and textiles. I’m drawn to meditative methods that require slowing down, breaking up a whole into smaller parts or motions — these are essential aspects of creating hand-drawn animation, stonework and weaving. Currently I’m teaching myself some simple game design programs to be able to use in my own way.  

What concepts do you explore in your work? 

I’ve made a lot of different kinds of work — some are narrative comic stories, some are figurative clay forms, some are abstract animation — but I’m always exploring a range of experiences, renderings and limits of bodies. Recent works focus on perceived misbehaviors, bodily communication and the grotesque. I’m particularly interested in the open-ended possibilities and histories of the animated body — simultaneously physical and virtual, free of expectations or fixed form.  

What is one of your favorite projects? 

I recently collaborated with artist Laura Harrison on Overheard in the Underworld, a video installation for 150 Media Stream in Chicago. The seed for our collaboration was Alice Notley’s book-length poem The Descent of Alette. Laura and I created a series of interlaced, hand-drawn animated scenes responding to specific imagery and scenarios found in Notley’s words. Beginning with a subway ride into surreal and unfamiliar depths, our piece takes a circular journey through tunnels of the flesh and the mind. A shapeshifting female protagonist confronts shadow selves and power structures in pursuit of healing and transformation, moving from despair to revolt and renewal. [The exhibit is on display through April 27.] 

Overheard in the Underworld is on display at 150 Media Stream in Chicago through April 27. Photo Credit: Michael Salisbury

What are you focusing on as a Guggenheim fellow? 

One of the most amazing things this fellowship allows for is time. Right now I am working on three projects: Two are hand-painted, 2D animated shorts that I’m creating on paper, and the other is an experimental narrative game.  

How did Northwestern influence you? 

The Art, Theory, Practice program allows for a lot of independent studio work, which gave me time to explore. I dipped into learning computer-generated imagery, expanding my practice in both virtual and physical mediums. In one class, we would critique a single work of art for three hours as a group each week, which I really enjoyed. There were several teachers who were very influential in terms of expanding my awareness of my own work in ways I’m not sure I would have seen otherwise.  

Northwestern is still a regular part of my life. I co-organize the Eyeworks Experimental Animation Series, a curation of classic and contemporary animated films. We do annual screenings in New York City, Los Angeles and Evanston. The Block Museum of Art has hosted the Evanston screenings since I was a student there, and I look forward to it every year.