NEW LOCAL GRAPHIC NOVEL

I KNOW WHAT I AM TP VOL 01
(W/A) Gina Sciciliano

Against the backdrop of a repressive and violent 17th century Rome, I Know What I Am tells the incredible story of female painter Artemisia Gentileschi. In a world where the Catholic Church controls the government, restricts free expression, and suppresses women’s power, Artemisia fights to overcome the odds and create covertly political work that challenges the culture’s acceptance of sexual violence and its restrictive view of women.

Cover art by Gina Siciliano

Gina Siciliano brings us the first fruit of her magnum opus exploring the art, politics and society of 17th century Italy in this heavily researched biography of one of the few female artists of the Baroque period.

I Know What I Am is a story populated with martyrs, philosophers, lecherous church officials, high-profile artists, and murderers. The gripping story extends from ignored female figures of Biblical times to the sordid lives of Baroque masters. It serves as both a sweeping history of a time period few people today understand and an extraordinary woman that subverted the society she was born into to become a ground-breaking artist

Using solely ballpoint pens, Siciliano creates a striking and unique work that interprets Renaissance and Baroque style through an entirely new lens. Bridging the modern “low” art form of comics with the traditionally “high” art form of painting, Siciliano comments on our forgotten past, the ways we define progress, and the history of women in art as a whole.

Includes 6 pages of notes and references to support the scholarly aspect of this ground-breaking work.