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'{{Infobox comics creator | image = Nina Paley Chiaroscuro.jpg | image_size = 260 | caption = Nina Paley (2006) | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|5|3|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Urbana, Illinois]] | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = American | area =Writer, penciller, cartoonist, animator | alias = | notable works = ''[[Nina's Adventures]]'', ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]'' | awards = <!-- [[#Awards|full list]] --> }} '''Nina Paley''' (born May 3, 1968) is an American [[cartoonist]], animator and [[free culture movement|free culture]] activist.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2009/03/18/my-official-position-on-copyright/ My Official Position on Copyright], Nina Paley blog, accessed May 28, 2009</ref> She was the artist and often the writer of the [[comic strip]]s ''[[Nina's Adventures]]'' and ''[[Fluff (comic strip)|Fluff]]'', but most of her recent work has been in animation.<ref>https://www.lambiek.net/artists/p/paley_nina.htm</ref> She is perhaps best known for creating the animated feature film ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]''. Paley distributes much of her work, including ''Nina’s Adventures'', ''Fluff'', and all the original work in ''Sita Sings The Blues'', under a [[copyleft]] licence. == Early life == Paley was born in [[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]],<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|1315434|Nina Paley}}</ref> [[Illinois]], the daughter of Jean (Passovoy) and Hiram Paley.<ref>http://www.heathandvaughn.com/paley,_hiram.html</ref> Her family was [[American Jewish|Jewish]].<ref>[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1850676295/seder-masochism-phase-i/posts/135921 Kickstarter]</ref> Her father was a mathematics professor at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois]] and was mayor of Urbana, where they resided, for a term in the early 1970s.<ref>[http://www.news-gazette.com/news/people/2012-01-10/life-remembered-hiram-paley-was-leading-progressive-urbana.html News-gazette.com]</ref> She attended local elementary and high schools, illustrating a "History of the North Pole" comic in collaboration with [[University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois)|University High School]] history teacher Chris Butler, and attended the [[University of Illinois]], studying art for two years. Her first animation was made when she was 13; it was recorded on [[Super-8]] reels. Her first animation as an adult was the short story ''Follow your Bliss''. Her second clay animation, ''I Heart My Cat'', was shot on a [[Krasnogorsk (camera)|Krasnogorsk camera]]. These two, along with ''Cancer'', were found on VHS with the description "NINA PALEY DEMO REEL 1998". In 2012, Paley decided to publish them under [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons]] Attribution-[[Share Alike]] license.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2012/01/21/ye-olde-animation/ Ninapaley.com]</ref> == Nina's Adventures and other work == [[File:Hots Dishrack.png|thumb|The Hots strip]] In 1988, Paley moved to [[Santa Cruz, California]], and began to write and draw the strip ''Nina's Adventures''. In 1991, she illustrated ''The Santa Cruz Haggadah''<ref>Karen G.R. Roekard, ''The Santa Cruz Haggadah'' (Berkeley 1991).</ref> and moved to San Francisco. In 1995, she began to draw the more mainstream ''Fluff'', a comic strip about a cat, which enjoyed a modest success in syndication. In 1998, she also began to experiment with animation.<ref>[http://www.ninapaley.com NinaPaley.com], official website, accessed Feb. 2, 2007</ref> In 1999, she made the world's first cameraless [[IMAX]] film, ''Pandorama'',<ref>[http://www.ninapaley.com/pandoramahome.html Pandorama], Ninapaley.com</ref> a short [[Modernist]] film which was shown widely at major film festivals in [[35 mm]] form during 2000 and 2001. In [[70 mm]] form, it also ran for about a year as a short feature at [[Berlin Cinestar]] and has been shown at IMAX theaters elsewhere. In 2001, she produced ''Fetch!'', a humorous short cartoon feature based on a variety of optical illusions, which has enjoyed popularity ever since.<ref>{{IMDb title|0350927|Fetch! (2002)}}</ref><ref>[http://www.speculist.com/archives/000312.html Speaking of the Future with Nina Paley], [[The Speculist]], October 16, 2003. accessed Feb. 8, 2007</ref> Beginning in 2002, Paley embarked focused her work on the controversial subject of population growth. The most notable entry she produced on this subject was ''The Stork'', in which the natural environment is bombed to destruction by storks dropping bundled babies.<ref>[https://archive.org/details.php?identifier=NinaVision The Stork and other films] in the [[Internet Archive]]</ref> The film is a compact expression of the conflict between increasing human population and the ecosystem in which it must live. The 3½ minute film was a considerable success at festivals and resulted in an invitation to [[Sundance Film Festival|Sundance]]. During this period of this time, Paley also contributed several comic strips for the [[Voluntary Human Extinction Movement]], of which she is a member and occasional spokesperson.<ref>[https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/2707 Bloggingheads.tv]</ref> Her work for the group still remains on their official website.<ref>[http://vhemt.org/paleyart.htm Vhemt.org]</ref> Early in 2010 Paley started drawing a new three-panel comic strip called [[Mimi & Eunice]]. She is distributing it on the web using a [[copyleft]] license.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2010/03/09/mimi-eunice/ mimi-eunice] on Ninapaley.com</ref> In 2013, Paley created an animation on Vimeo depicting the Middle East conflicts over history; it was named a Staff Pick.<ref>[http://vimeo.com/50531435 Vimeo]</ref> Between projects, Paley has worked as a freelance director at [[Duck Studios]] in Los Angeles.<ref name="Duck Studios">[http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=2566 Tiny Inventions Takes to DUCK Studios], ''Animation Insider'', September 29, 2010</ref> == Sita and recent work == [[Image:NinaAtBerlinale.jpg|thumb|right|At the [[Berlinale]] premiere of ''Sita Sings the Blues'' in 2008]] In 2002, Paley moved to [[Trivandrum]], India, where her husband had taken a job. While she was visiting New York City on business concerning her third comic strip, ''The Hots'', her husband terminated their marriage. Unable to return to either Trivandrum or San Francisco, she moved to [[Brooklyn]], New York. Her personal crisis caused her to see more deeply into the ''[[Ramayana]]'', the Indian epic, which she had encountered in India, and motivated her to produce a short animation which combines an episode from the ''Ramayana'' with a [[torch song]] recorded in 1929 by [[Annette Hanshaw]], "Mean To Me".<ref>[http://www.flashgoddess.com/html/gallery_NinaPaley.html Featured artist - Nina Paley: Sita Sings the Blues], Flash Goddess, October 2005. accessed Feb. 8, 2007</ref> Paley later added episodes and other material to the work, which is now called ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]''. She expanded it into a feature-length treatment of the ''Ramayana'' focused on [[Rama]]'s wife, [[Sita]], using a variety of animation styles and techniques. Many of the episodes appeared in animation festivals. The finished work premiered at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]] on Feb. 11, 2008.<ref>[http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/february/singstheblues.html Sita Sings The Blues (Work in Progress) Plus Selected Shorts] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223054603/http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/february/singstheblues.html |date=2007-02-23 }}, Cinema Arts Centre - Huntington, NY. accessed Feb. 8, 2007</ref> For her work on ''Sita Sings the Blues'', Paley was nominated for an [[Independent Spirit Award]].<ref>{{cite web|date=2 December 2008|last1=Moody|first1=Annemarie|title=Sita Sings Blues Creator Nominated For Indie Spirit Award|url=https://www.awn.com/news/sita-sings-blues-creator-nominated-indie-spirit-award|website=Animation World Network|accessdate=8 May 2018}}</ref> She has taught in the Design and Technology section of [[Parsons The New School for Design|Parsons]], part of [[The New School]].<ref>[http://www.parsons.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty_details.aspx?dID=69&sdID=91&pType=2&id=3756 Parsons - Design & Technology Faculty, Nina Paley<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222232445/http://www.parsons.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty_details.aspx?dID=69&sdID=91&pType=2&id=3756 |date=2006-12-22 }}</ref> In 2012 she began work on a project called ''Seder Masochism'',<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/category/seder-masochism/ Ninapaley.com]</ref> an unorthodox animated film of [[The Exodus]], narrated by recordings of [[Passover Seder]]s. Phase I was an experiment with recordings, the funding for it was gathered via [[Kickstarter]] service. The real movie will be produced in Phase II.<ref>[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1850676295/seder-masochism-phase-i seder-masochism-phase-i] on [[Kickstarter.com]]</ref> In April 2018, the completed film was selected for the Annecy International Animation Festival. <ref>{{cite web|title=Annecy 2018: 23 Animated Feature Films In Official Selection |author=Amid Amidi| date=23 April 2018| url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/annecy-2018-23-animated-feature-films-in-official-selection-157991.html|website=Cartoon Brew}}</ref> Paley released several free goddess-figure animations in anticipation of the film's release. <ref>{{cite news|last=Haney|first=Stephanie|title=Dancing queens: Artist brings fertility goddesses to life in series of sensual gifs|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5259615/Artist-Nina-Paley-animates-goddess-gifs-future-film.html|work=Daily Mail|date=11 January 2018}}</ref> == Free culture activism == [[File:Copying Is Not Theft.webm|thumb|right|200px|'Copying is Not Theft' by Paley]] [[File:GlamCamp NY Kippelboy nina Paley (2).JPG|thumb|"Copying is not theft!" badge by Paley]] Because of obstacles in [[copyright|clearing the rights]] to Hanshaw's recordings for the ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]'', Paley took active part in the [[free culture movement]]. Since 2009 she is an [[artist-in-residence]] at QuestionCopyright.org non-profit organization, which includes running the projects "Minute Memes" and the "Sita Distribution Project".<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/about Questioncopyright.org]</ref> "Minute Memes"<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/minute_memes Questioncopyright.org]</ref> is a series of short ("one-minute") video "[[Internet meme|memes]]" about copyright restrictions and artistic freedom made by Paley. She wrote and performed the song "Copying Isn't Theft" meant to be freely [[remix]]ed by other people,<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/rearranging_isnt_theft_either "Copying Isn't Theft" -- Your Versions], QuestionCopyright.org. accessed May 28, 2009</ref> which she also made the animated clip to as the Minute Meme #1.<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/minute_memes/copying_is_not_theft "Copying Is Not Theft (Minute Meme #1)"]</ref> Next animations in this series are "All Creative Work Is Derivative",<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/minute_memes/all_creative_work_is_derivative "All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)"]</ref> [[Electronic Frontier Foundation|EFF]] Tribute<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/happy_20th_birthday_eff "Electronic Frontier Foundation celebrates 20 years with new animation from Nina Paley."]</ref> and "Credit is Due: The Attribution Song".<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/minute-memes/credit-is-due "Credit is Due (The Attribution Song)"]</ref> She also made an illustrated guide to the idea of [[free content]] ("Understanding Free Content"<ref>[http://questioncopyright.org/understanding_free_content Understanding Free Content], QuestionCopyright.org, 2009-04-02. accessed May 28, 2009</ref>). In 2010 she started new comic strip [[Mimi & Eunice]], highlighting [[intellectual property]] problems and paradoxes. She plans to publish much of her work, including ''Nina’s Adventures'', ''Fluff'', and all original work in ''Sita Sings The Blues'', under a [[copyleft]] licence.<ref>"The whole struggle with our broken copyright system turned me into a Free Culture activist. I’m actually going to release all my old “Nina’s Adventures” and “Fluff” comics under a Share Alike (copyleft) license too." [http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/faq.html Sitasingstheblues.com] accessed May 28, 2009</ref> The website for ''Sita Sings the Blues'' includes a wiki where its fans contributed translated subtitles for the DVD of the film.<ref>See its lists of [http://sitasingstheblues.com/wiki/index.php?title=Subtitles subtitles] and [http://sitasingstheblues.com/wiki/index.php?title=SitaSingsTheBlues:Current_events screenings]</ref> On January 18, 2013, Nina posted on her blog that the copyright license for ''Sita Sings The Blues'' was being switched from CC-BY-SA to CC-0, thus placing the work into the public domain.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2013/01/18/ahimsa-sita-sings-the-blues-now-cc-0-public-domain/ ahimsa-sita-sings-the-blues-now-cc-0-public-domain] on Ninapaley.com</ref> In 2012 she was a special guest on international conference [[CopyCamp]] in Warsaw.<ref>{{cite web|title=Copycamp Talk|url=http://blog.ninapaley.com/2012/12/14/copycamp-talk/|agency=blog.ninapaley.com|date=2012-12-14|accessdate=2014-12-03}}</ref> Paley won [[Public Knowledge]] organization's IP3 award in 2010 "for her work in intellectual property".<ref>[http://www.publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-presents-seventh-ip3-awards-samue Publicknowledge.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403025209/http://www.publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-presents-seventh-ip3-awards-samue |date=2012-04-03 }}</ref> == Personal life == Paley identifies as a [[Feminist_views_on_transgender_topics#The_term_"TERF" |trans-exclusionary radical feminist]]<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2017/03/22/the-terfening-online-silencing-campaign/ "The TERFening: attempting to document a convoluted online silencing campaign"] blog.ninapaley.com. 2017-03-22.</ref> and has publicly opposed the position that [[trans women]] are women.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2017/03/23/the-banality-of-stupid/ "The Banality of Stupid"] blog.ninapaley.com. 2017-03-23.</ref> Though of [[Jewish]] ancestry, Paley is an [[atheist]]. She has been especially critical of [[Judaism]] and considers it a form of indoctrination and exploitation.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2012/10/19/jews-zionists-israelis/ "Jews, Zionists, Israelis"] blog.ninapaley.com. 2012-10-19.</ref> Paley is openly [[childfree]]: a position she actively promotes and encourages others to adopt.<ref>[http://www.ninapaley.com/childfree.html "Childfree!"] on Ninapaley.com</ref> She also makes [[quilt]]s, some of which she has featured on her official blog.<ref>[http://blog.ninapaley.com/category/quilting/ quilting] on blog.ninapaley.com</ref> == Works == === Comic strips === * ''[[Nina's Adventures]]'' * ''[[Fluff (comic strip)|Fluff]]'' * ''[[the Hots]]'' * ''[[Mimi & Eunice]]'' === Filmography === [[File:05.RamSitaGods.png|thumb|Still image from the feature film ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]'']] * ''Cancer'' (1998. Drawing directly on film. 2 minutes. Color. 35mm.) * ''Luv Is...'' (1998. Clay animation. 3.5 minutes. Beta SP / Super-8. Color.) * ''I (heart) My Cat'' (1998. Clay animation. 3 minutes. 16mm. Color.) * ''Pandorama'' (2000. Drawing directly on film. 3 minutes. color. 15perf/70mm - also known as "[[IMAX]]") * ''Fetch!''<ref name="fetch">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbla1JXVwaU ''Fetch!'' on Youtube]</ref> (2001. 2-D computer animation. 4.5 minutes. 35mm. Color.) * ''Thank You for Not Breeding''<ref name="thankyoufornotbreeding">[https://vimeo.com/7652051 ''Thank You for Not Breeding'' on Vimeo]</ref> (2002. Documentary. 36 minutes. Video. Color.) * ''The Stork''<ref name="stork">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWrMDlafrAI ''The Stork'' on Youtube]</ref> (2002. 2-D computer animation (Flash/Photoshop/Final Cut Pro). 3 minutes. Video. Color.) * ''Goddess of Fertility'' (2002. 2-D digital animation. 2 minutes. Clay animated on glass. Color. 35mm.) * ''Fertco'' (2002. 2-D digital animation. 3 minutes. Color. Video.) * ''The Wit and Wisdom of Cancer''<ref name="wit">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3C-ERBfCms ''The Wit & Wisdom of Cancer'' on Youtube]</ref> (2002. 2-D digital animation. 4.5 minutes. Color. Dialog. Video.) * ''[[Sita Sings the Blues]]'' (82 min, 2003–2008, 2-D digital animation. Color.) * ''This Land Is Mine - A brief history of the land called Israel/Palestine/Canaan/the Levant''<ref name="thisland">[https://vimeo.com/50531435 ''This Land Is Mine'' on Vimeo]</ref> (3.32 min, 2012, 2-D digital animation. Color.) * ''On Children'', a segment in ''[[Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet]]'' (2015. 2-D digital animation. Color.) * ''[[Seder-Masochism]]'' (2018) === Media Appearances === * ''The Tom and Doug Show'' - Paley has been a regular guest on the nationally syndicated [[Tom and Doug]] radio show, a weekly comedy music show on the [[Pacifica Radio Network]].<ref>[http://www.tomanddoug.com/tndpodcasts.html Tomanddoug.com]</ref> She "showed" her film "The Wit and Wisdom of Cancer" on show 304, discussed her "Christmas Resistance movement" on show 336, discussed Tom and Doug's songs "Gangsta Knitter" and "Sooner or Later" on show 232, discussed "Sita Sings the Blues" on show 361, and Tom and Doug rewrote her song "Copying is Not Theft" and played it for her on show 377.<ref>[http://audioport.org/index.php?op=search&nav=&searchtext=tom+and+doug Audioport.org]</ref> ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Commons category}} {{wikiquote}} * {{official website|http://blog.ninapaley.com/}} * [http://mimiandeunice.com/ Mimi & Eunice] * [http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/ ''Sita Sings The Blues''] * {{cite web |url= http://home.earthlink.net/~twoeyesmagazine/issue2/richman.htm |publisher= Two Eyes Magazine |title= The Rich Man's Burden |display-authors= 0 |first= Nina |last= Paley |quote= A modern adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "White Man's Burden," 1899 |deadurl= yes |archive-date= March 31, 2002 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20020331152431/http://home.earthlink.net/~twoeyesmagazine/issue2/richman.htm }} * {{IMDb name|1315434|Nina Paley}} * {{cite web |url= http://www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/?p=202 |website= Amateur Illustrator |title= Interview with Nina Paley |first= Ingmar |last= Zahorsky |date= Nov 30, 2006 |deadurl= yes |archive-date= February 8, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070208202453/http://www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/?p=202 }} Archives: *[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/ Cartoonistgroup: extensive archives of many of Paley's comic strips] *[http://www.things.org/~jym/nina-bibliography.html Partial bibliography of Paley's comic strips] *[https://archive.org/details/FluffComicStrips Archive of "Fluff" comic strips] - [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0] *[https://archive.org/details/NinasAdventuresFree An almost complete collection of "Nina's Adventures" comic strips] - [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0] *[https://archive.org/details/TheHots Collection of "The Hots" comic strips], written by StephenHersh and drawn by Nina Paley - [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0] *[https://archive.org/details/NinaVision ''Nina Vision'', an archive of Nina Paley's short animated films] - [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Paley, Nina}} [[Category:1968 births]] [[Category:American animators]] [[Category:American atheists]] [[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]] [[Category:American feminists]] [[Category:Radical feminists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Open content activists]] [[Category:People from Urbana, Illinois]] [[Category:University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois) alumni]] [[Category:American female comics artists]] [[Category:Female comics writers]] [[Category:American Jews]] [[Category:Jewish atheists]] [[Category:Women animators]] [[Category:American film directors]] [[Category:American women film directors]] [[Category:Anti-natalists]]'