As a contemporary painter and textile designer, Mia was born and raised in Chicago. She focuses on cartoonish figurative paintings that depict familiar human experiences, the delicacies of relationships, and emotional states from a first and third-person perspective. The brightness of her work balances out the sometimes heavy themes, allowing the pieces to be easily approachable by their viewers. The patterns she creates within her work are then pulled from the figures' clothing and translated into wearable textile items. This approach fully immerses the viewer into her unusual world.
Destined for art and textiles, Mia comes from a family with a rich artistic background. Her mother paints, her grandmother was both a painter and pianist, and another grandmother was a seamstress. In 2022, she collaborated with Chance the Rapper on an interdisciplinary work titled “YAH Know,” which was unveiled at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The same year, Mia was also tapped for the Jordan Artist Series to create pieces inspired by the spaces that have shaped and changed her life.
Shaking up the art world and traditional spaces within it is something Mia continues to challenge herself to do. She aims to make art relatable and accessible. Her latest partnership with Urban Outfitters resulted in a genderless collection of sweaters and silk garments that elevate the normalcy of unisex apparel. Mia is strategic about showing her work with galleries like Kavi Gupta and participating in exhibitions such as Expo Chicago, all while continuing to foster authentic partnerships.
"My goal is to always make Black girls feel seen, especially the ones who are where I’m from. I want them to go into museums and see my work or see these collaborations and know the possibilities are endless. If they need a resource for anything, I’ll always be available." - Mia Lee