About Viviane Silvera
Founder | Filmmaker | Speaker |Visual Artist
Viviane Silvera is an award-winning filmmaker, visual artist, and speaker whose hand-painted films explore the intersections of memory, neuroscience, trauma, and healing. She is the founder of On Art LLC, an interdisciplinary studio based in New York City that develops films, educational programs, and public experiences bridging art and science.
Her PBS-premiered film See Memory—composed of more than 30,000 individually painted frames—visualizes the neuroscience of memory formation, trauma, and reconsolidation. The film has been presented at institutions including Yale University, the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Vanderbilt University, Art Basel Miami, and the Edward Hopper House Museum, and received the 2025 Telly Award for 2D Animation.
Through On Art, Silvera designs custom programs, screenings, and workshops for universities, hospitals, museums, and organizations, using visual storytelling as a tool for education, reflection, and connection. Her work is frequently used in dialogue with neuroscience, narrative medicine, and mental health practice, helping audiences engage complex psychological concepts through art.
A sought-after speaker and educator, Silvera is known for translating scientific ideas about the mind into vivid, accessible experiences grounded in story and image. Her work has been licensed by universities, medical centers, and cultural institutions worldwide.
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Brazil, Silvera brings a global and deeply personal perspective to her practice. She holds a dual degree in Psychology and Political Science from Tufts University and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art, where she focused on sculpture. In April 2026, she will serve as an Artist in Residence at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, an interdisciplinary research institute bridging neuroscience, psychology, and the arts.
Her work has been supported by organizations including the Charles E. Kubly Foundation, Friends of the Semel Institute at UCLA, Erase PTSD Now, and New Day Films, with promotional partnerships involving the Oliver Sacks Foundation and Johns Hopkins Arts & Minds Lab.