Karlina Zanetti

Karlina is an American painter, cinematographer, writer, and director living and working in Malibu, California and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She obtained her BA in Screen Arts and Art from Pepperdine University. Much of Karlina’s practice involves human emotions and how people relate to one another in life. 

Karlina has participated in many group art shows and film festivals at Pepperdine University including Reel Stories, The Orchard, and The Deep End. Some of her pieces reside in various private collections.

A woman with dark hair and a striped shirt holding a film slate, standing in a cozy bedroom with a bed, a side table with a lamp, and framed pictures on the wall.
A group of people wearing hats and casual clothes standing on green grass in a field with mountains in the background, under a bright sky with the sun shining.
A woman taking a selfie outdoors on a hillside with green grass, overlooking a coastal town and ocean in the background. She is wearing a brown cowboy hat and a dark brown long-sleeve shirt with red and yellow embroidery.
Two people, a man with long brown hair, glasses, and a beard in a tan jacket, and a woman with dark brown hair in a checkered dress, smiling at the camera, standing in front of a black backdrop with film-related logos and text.
Group of four people at a film festival, smiling and enjoying the event, standing in front of a black backdrop with film reels and the text 'ReelStories Film Festival' and 'RSFF15'.
Three women standing on a red carpet in front of a black backdrop with film reel graphics and the text "Reel Stories Film Festival" and "RSFF15." All three women are smiling and dressed in stylish outfits, with two wearing boots and dresses and one wearing a leather jacket over a patterned dress.

Personal Mission Statement

I am truly happy when I am surrounded by people who make me feel seen, loved, and appreciated. I want to be someone who makes others feel that way- even by just looking at my work. Due to coming from a small town with a lot of family history- I enjoy showing the small stories in life and the little things and allowing them to be seen in an artistic light. I like showing the mundane things in life as special. I want to show people that no matter what they do big or small, it is appreciated and needed. I am a daydreamer. My core values include adventure, creativity, and growth. I am a creator. I will be creating for the rest of my life in any form I find myself at the time. I am an artist who can see the whole picture as well as focus on the details. I am flexible and thrive in change and problem-solving. I always want to grow in my skills and never feel content with where they are at.

I create work that is targeted to resonate with a specific person or group through a dreamlike lens. Through this lens, I can allow my viewers to look for an answer in my work through their own minds rather than just giving them what I think everything means. The dreamlike quality allows them to create an answer and then find one that I make. I am fascinated with the dislocation of people’s lives and how something so at home with one person can be so foreign to another. A place that someone exists in every day and feels like an extension of themselves, can mean absolutely nothing to someone else who has never been there. The places we work, live, and visit in our lives are physical extensions of our souls. They are places where people are able to look into our lives in real-time. I enjoy giving these places a platform to be seen through the eyes of the people who habitat them. I create these places and emotions through drama and art short films, poetry, story writing, and painting. I do not like to keep myself to just one medium. I enjoy figuring out what medium best represents the person, place, or thing I am trying to express. Humans feel so much. I feel so much. I create art in order to give visual representations to the emotions that I struggle to give words to. My aspiration is to be able to create art for others who also have a hard time explaining themselves.