Paola Semilia was born in Palermo in 1982. From a young age she shows a marked apti-tude for art techniques (oils, mixed media, acrylics, resins) and especially reveals a great passion for engraving. The artist prefers material painting. In her works she tries to create a thickness with the paints and materials used, so as to trigger a different perception of the painting in the viewer, making him almost want to touch it, to fully appreciate its char-acteristics. Her academic career began with her enrollment at the Abadir Academy of Fine Arts in 2001 in the degree program in Restoration, continuing with a specialization in Painting, obtained with 110/110, publishing a thesis on Dan Flavin in 2007. In her works, Paola Semilia uses a variety of materials, all referable to industrial and construction sites: plaster powder, steel, metal sheets, resin, acrylic colors, and so on. The choice of these materials is not random, but rooted in the artist's history. For, from an early age, she fol-lowed her father, a well-known builder from Palermo, to the construction site. She began to paint right there, being inspired by everything that surrounded her at the moment and that permeated the lives of her family members. These materials are used crudely, they are spread with spatulas, toothbrushes, with hands or feet, with whatever the artist has at hand. Brushes are used, but in a very small way. The image that is created is a direct one, without any guidelines or preparation prior to the laying down of colors, as the artist paints her works following more what her feelings tell her to do, what comes to her from within.