About digital collages

“Rebel City” by Mia Makila, 2020. Digital collage.

As a digital collage artist, I can work on a piece for months (on-and-off), sometimes almost a year. When I was still creating paper collages, I was limited to the physical properties of the cut-outs – but Photoshop liberates me in my creative flow (I can enlarge, crop, distort, edit, copy, invert the cut-outs etc) and I love it! And no, digital art is NOT made by computers! And no, when digital art is printed, the prints are not ‘posters’ but original prints in a limited edition (signed and numbered)!

The first above is the finished version of “Rebel City” (2020) and the two below are earlier drafts.

NEW! “Puppet Girl”

“Puppet Girl” digital collage (2020). Soon available.

This one was so much fun to make. In a way it is a self-portrait of how I use to be (a puppet girl for others to manipulate). I have outgrown the chains and nails and I no longer allow anyone to make me feel like a puppet.

“NEW! “Anthem”

“Anthem” by Mia Makila, 2020, archival ultrachrome print. Available.

Finally! I have been working on this piece on-and-off for over 4 months and now it’s all done. This is the story of self-empowerment and it includes a collaboration with my amazingly talented friend Candice Angelini. I used and manipulated a few of her coolest head pieces (Coiffe Shamanic Bird and Post Mortem II) and pieces from her creepy Zombie mask (see last picture for some of the original pieces I used in the collage).

NEW! “The Rebelle Collection”

Woohoo! Good news! Here it is – “The Rebelle Collection” with 4 new digital collage, which I made exclusively for the coolest galley/store ever: @lamaisonrebelle ! The original prints will be available on their website soon! You can see all pieces here. I have been working on this collection for the last 5 months and I feel like they have redefined me as an artist. It doesn’t happen often that you feel like you have reached a new artistic level but I do feel it now with my Rebelle Collection and it makes me both excited and happy! I hope you like my new pieces, feel free to give some feedback in the comments! Have a great weekend!

Happy Women’s Day!

What a week! As you all could see here on the site, the week started out with my big artist comeback and ended with the International Women’s Day! So much GIRL POWER! I made this video for all my sisters out there – but the message is for everyone!

We are women, ladies & girls.
We are not objects.
We are not trophies.
We are not here to please you.
We exist on our own terms.
We own our bodies.
We own our stories.
Happy Women’s Day!

The artworks of 2019

2019 was to me the year of pure creative joy. It was also the year of vivid colors, like hot pink, neon green and nuances of azure blue. It was the year where I made many feminist statements in my art – from my @ladyicona project of making surreal portraits of amazing female icons – to my “Ungagged” suite, which included imagery of personal victories in my trauma recovery and some brutal girl power!

I will continue to be loud, fierce and unapologetic in my art. I already have 8 pieces in progress which will cross over to the new year – and I have ideas for many, many more!

I wish to thank my fans and followers for your kindness, support and love that you have shown me this year. You give me such positive energy and I always put it into my art and hopefully it will return to you in the end. I am grateful for your appreciation of my inner Universe.

I also wish to thank Stan at PROIMAGES AB and Therése at Westréns Glas AB for their loyal support and service.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

NEW! “Red Story nr. 3”

“Red Story nr. 3” by Mia Makila, 2019. Digital collage. Edition of 5. Available.

DETAILS:

This is the third piece of my “Red Story” suite – a visual series about the traumas I am slowly overcoming. Instead of my usual perspective of examining the emotions of the survivor/victim (me), I am focusing on the crazy actions and bizarre behavior of the abusers. In the third story piece I am exploring the strange behavior of one of my ex boyfriends. Our relationship was based on a power imbalance. I lived in his house, he was a ‘master’ – dominant, in control, better, stronger, smarter – whilst I was made into a submissive ‘lolita’, a living doll, an object, weaker, dependent and isolated. This imbalance had many dimensions – it was economical, material, physical, emotional, psychological and sexual.
 
During our first year of living together in his house, he had a bizarre ritual of unzipping his pants right after he had served me dinner, then he would take out his (soft) dick and place it on the dining table and would just be standing like that for a while – so proud of himself and his ‘thing’. This usually happened when the family across the street (a mom, dad and two teenage boys) also were having their dinner and could see him standing like that, through their window. I would do what all good girls are supposed to do in situations where men make us uncomfortable – I would giggle.
 
But after I was out of this toxic relationship, I started to question this absurd routine. What was he trying to tell me – with his dick on the table, next to the food I was about to enjoy? What did he demonstrate? Was it an act of intimidation, a power demonstration, psychological abuse or perhaps an expression of a sexual fetish (with the eyes of our neighbor family as an important factor)?

NEW! “Red Story No. 2”

“Red Story No. 2” by Mia Makila, 2019 (digital collage). Available.

Details:

This piece was difficult to make. It is a real memory from my life. A moment that repeated itself over and over again throughout my relationship with an abusive man. I loved that man. Or I thought I loved him. I thought he loved me. But at times, he told me he wanted to kill me. During a few seconds while physically abusing me. he even tried to kill me:

Most of the times he is just threatening my life in various ways. Sometimes with his hands. Sometimes he has a knife. Or boiling water. I am on the floor. He is on top of me. I have his spit in my face. His hungry saliva all over me. His hands around my neck. We are both sweaty. I am screaming. He is yelling, calling me things, telling me that I am a sinner, I am the devil, a prostitute. Worthless. I am fighting for my life but at the same time – I am not here. I disappear. I dissociate. At times I am shielding  my body with a painting of birch trees that hangs on our wall. When he is trying to strangle me, I pretend to get unconscious to make him stop. My strategy is successful. The grip of his hands around my neck relaxes, he whispers: “Mia? Mia?….Mia?” Since I am holding my breath, I suddenly grasp for air and he starts to cry: “I am such a monster… I’m sorry. I’m sorry”. My job now is to make him feel better. “No, you are wonderful, I love you so much, you are not a monster” I tell him and start to comfort him with my body. Nobody knows what he is doing to me. Nobody is comforting me, not even myself.

NEW! “The Tragic Death Of Observation Cat”

“The Tragic Death Of Observation Cat” by Mia Makila, 2019. Digital ultrachrome print on cotton archival paper. Edition of 5. Available.

Details:

Earlier this year I found an abandoned piece from 2012 of a very angry observation cat (appropriately based on a recurring nightmare where I feel forced to pet a cat which I forgot I had so it hasn’t been fed or nurtured for years – and it is dusty and starving and the fur is covered with eyeballs).