Ivana Panizzi was born in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. She graduated on Plastic Arts at the "Instituto Superior de Arte" in Havana, Cuba, where she also studied Cinema and Television. She participated in the "New York Project 1995", organized by the Parque Lage Foundation (Rio de Janeiro).

Her artworks can be found in private galleries and museums in Brazil and in private collections in Egypt, Belgium, Bolivia, Cuba, United States, Ireland, Italy, Mozambique, South Africa and Japan. Her work is characterized by researching and recycling of non-conventional materials, either on her paintings or on her objects and installations.

She taught "3-D Design" at the Maryland College of Art and Design in 2000/2005. The artist is residing temporarily in Tanzania, she organized recycling projects in public schools in Mozambique from 2005 - 2009.