Born in 2004 and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, my perspectives of how art should function to benefit communities is directly shaped by the environments around me. Growing up in Louisiana, the mixing pot of cultures influenced my perspective of social issues, governmental mismanagement, and the resilience of southern communities. I find myself immersed in intersectional issues that impact citizens at local and state-wide levels, such as our historical and cultural erasure, gentrification and redlining in previously diverse neighborhoods, and infrastructural issues that plague the region. My work aims to celebrate communities that nurture culture while simultaneously criticizing entities and systems that participate in cultural erasure. 

The mediums and surfaces I utilize are integral to my thematic exploration. Specifically, combining wet and dry media is an attempt to emulate the dense variety of cultures that dwell in New Orleans, collaborating to create its scenic landscape. The application of dry mediums, such as graphite and charcoal, are effective for translating landscape and architectural information. Roads, foliage, and houses are created in black and white, making them less noticeable but maintaining a stagnant presence in the work. My utilization of gouache and oil paints functions as a way to highlight a specific topic, where my explorations with color translate into a visual language. The combination of colorful and colorless areas within my compositions produce a balanced narrative that initiates a visual conversation. Throughout my bodies of work, both on canvas and on paper, the goal is to direct viewers towards issues infrequently depicted in artwork centered around New Orleans and in greater Louisiana.

Lillian is a recent graduate from the College of Art and Design at Louisiana State University. She graduated with a BFA in Studio Art with a Painting and Drawing concentration.