Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Miller
Hi Liz, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Liz Miller is a second-generation fine artist. She creates hair sculptures, sculptural paintings, wearable art, performance art pieces, and film. Her films capture community members and herself performing while adorned with hair sculptures for meaningful transformative movement rituals. The concepts embodied in her work are social justice themes centered around the black experience in America; utilizing both history and Afro-futurism simultaneously balanced within. She considers her work to be a part of a broader black liberation strategy employing black joy and serious play. Her work has been exhibited at various noteworthy institutions including the Delaware Contemporary Museum and the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, CA., and internationally (throughout Canada, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, England, Liberia (West Africa), and India). B. A. in Art and Design from Towson University and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She has been a teaching artist for the last twenty years and currently is an art teacher for a Title 1 school in Baltimore, MD. Guest Lecturer for colleges, including Maryland Insititute College of Art, Johns Hopkins, and Loyola University Maryland.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It took me a long time to realize I wanted this art life. I’ve needed a day job to help me build this life but it’s steadily coming along. Deciding whether or not to go to art school has been tricky but an important part of the journey. Thankfully I’ve had a great community to connect with.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Hair, a part of all of us. Our skin anchors it in place. We live within its’ roots. Hair designs have enjoyed a rich, multi-hemispheric tradition that has spanned the millennia.
Liz Miller’s work explores the connection between our roots and contemporary America. Textile, ancestry, mythology and contemporary black culture are her inspirations. Her work takes the form of static installations, artifacts of rituals and/or full-scale performances, films, and social experiments.
Cataloging hair stories since her formative years, Liz celebrates the limitless potential of hair, as it relates to African-American culture. Her sculptural artifacts deployed in her rituals question black body politics while addressing such issues as appropriation, classism, gender, ethnicity, anti-blackness, equity, identity, and commodification. Her performance rituals seek to spiritually cleanse historically traumatic spaces of their energy through the activation of black bodies.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Community is the key to success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lizmillerproductions.com
- Instagram: @liz_miller_productions
