Holly Gaboriault

Holly Gaboriault (she/her) is a storytelling producer working across filmmaking, curation, archival narrative recovery and design research to expand interdisciplinary methodologies centered in the power of storytelling. With a BFA in Illustration and an MA in Global Arts and Cultures from RISD, she has held positions as a designer, illustrator, creative director, curator, director of programming and strategic storytelling consultant. Her projects and collaborations centralize absence as a constructive interventional tool for reframing void and reclaiming voice within art and design archives, museums and institutional collections. 

Conversations within artist studios, museums and archives have illuminated the complexities of art and design in film projects such as the RISD Research Perspectives (2020–23) and The RI Art Archive Project (2012–16). Serving as a storytelling producer for the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University (2023–25), Holly documents artistic residencies and behind-the-scenes processes of projects with interdisciplinary visual artists and performers. 

As a member of the Theory + History of Art + Design faculty in RISD’s Liberal Arts division (2021–23), Holly was assistant professor-in-residence (2023–24) for the Illustration department, an interdepartmental critic for the Architecture and Experimental and Foundation Studies departments, and adjunct faculty for Brown University’s Summer@Brown. Working with both graduate and undergrad students, she teaches courses that integrate tools for narrative activation exploring object-based research and curatorial practices with an emphasis on responsibility for sustaining community stories. Holly’s current exhibition and book projects are a collection of archival deep dives featuring untold histories of mid-20th century fashion designers and textile illustrators; early histories of theater and costume innovation; and reframing forensic interconnectivity within creative research.