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Martha Colburn is a filmmaker currently living in Long Island City, New York. Colburn was born in 1972 and spent her childhood near the Appalachian Mountains between Gettysburg and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1990, Colburn left the Appalachians to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Her primary focus in school was visual arts, yet she also began to become involved in the Baltimore experimental music scene. After ten years of living in Baltimore, Colburn moves to Amsterdam in 2000 after being offered a two-year residency at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts. During her residency, Colburn makes numerous films including Skelehellavision, an animated and hand-colored film mixing images of female pornography stars and skulls, and Big Bug Attack, a film whose soundtrack is a collaborative piece between Colburn and German techno artist Felix Kubin. Once settling in Long Island City, New York, Colburn begins work on animations that deal more closely with American history and its relationship to the country's current foreign and domestic policies. She is most well-known for her animation films, which are created through puppetry, collage, and paint on glass techniques. She has made over forty films since 1994. Colburn has also been fervently involved in playing music. One out of numerous groups she has been a part of is The Dramatics, a band she formed in Baltimore with Jason Willet. Recently in her career, Colburn has made sculptural/video installation work and experimented with integrating her films with musical performance. Yet music and film have always shared a deep connection within Colburn's work.