Nancy Kato was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1964, where she graduated in architecture in 1987. After graduation she worked as a computer artist at CGA, São Paulo, producing illustrations and animations on computer. At CGA she also had the opportunity to teach and participate in computer art exhibitions. In 1989 she received a scholarship from the Brazilian government to take a Master of Fine Arts in computer art at the School of Visual Arts, New York. She will receive her M.F.A. degree in June, 1991.

'Visions from the Amazon' is a character animation with an individual and personal style. The animation is based on Indian stories from the Amazon, but it doesn't tell a specific story. It is a collection of visual ideas and sensations I came across while reading them. Most of the stories are based on the Indians' life, their relationship with the forest and their myths about the supernatural. They are full of opposed elements, such as origin and end of the world, day and night, natural and supernatural, myth and reality, male and female, and so on. The primary feeling I had when reading these stones was that the Indians' world is completely disconnected from our reality. Their myths are beautiful and powerful, and it is terrifying to believe that they are threatened by extinction. I decided to create 'Visions from the Amazon' to show some of that beauty, some of that life in the forest, and to make a visual contrast between what exists and what may remain if this world is destroyed. It is an homage to all Indians, animals and plants of the Amazon rain forest.

Technical Background

HW: Silicon Graphics 4D-70 GT
SW: Alias 3.0