Monika Plioplyte

Lives and works in Chicago, IL, USA

Artist statement

Monika Plioplyte’s (b. 1989 Kaunas, Lithuania) narrative collages combine printed and cut paper, drawings, photographs, and other mixed media to form a pictorial interlanguage grounded in nature, folk symbolism, and the body. She is interested in myth as encoded knowledge, particularly as they relate to our connection to the earth, spiritual beliefs, and the uncanny. Plioplyte often uses herself as both subject and object, working through her own body as a site of exploration and a living work in progress. Whether developing textile-inspired patterns as metaphors for memory and language, creating self-portraiture rooted in everyday observation and imagination, or referencing and reinterpreting folk symbols and their meanings, Plioplyte brings together personal and collective mythologies to explore human psychology and the unseen forces that shape perception, belief, and the contradictions and desires of contemporary life. Plioplyte's work has been exhibited at Hyde Park Art Center, Northern Illinois Art Museum, Monique Meloche, Columbia College Chicago, Boundary Space, and Mana Contemporary (IL); Rare Visions and Space_Space (CO); and the Davis Center at Harvard University, AREA Gallery, and Gallery Kayafas (MA). Residencies include MASS MoCA, The Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center, the Harris Barron Fellowship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ACRE, Vermont Studio Center, and the NEIU Art + Design Studio Residency. She has received grants from the Illinois Arts...

Artwork