Artist Feature: Mia Mras
What’s the tastiest shape?
A circle, because without it we wouldn’t have pizza, cake, cookies, or an easy way to tell time through a clock.
Classiest font and why?
Wing Dings, why? Because I think it is such a fun font to use cause no one can understand you.
How do you plan to take over the world?
Simple, I will follow the steps from Pinky and the Brain. One of those plans are going to work eventually.
What is your art about?
The feeling of being weak and uncomfortable; a victim to being bullied and insulted for the gender you are. Someone out there has been through the same thing and others don’t feel comfortable in their own skin. I wanted to create something where those hidden wars could be seen without you having to fear being found out. This work is a canvas to show your weakness, pain, identity, and judgement without needing to think of repercussions. It is almost like a way to escape those thoughts and help you identify what really has gotten under your skin. A place to help those who see it, understand that they are not alone and that feeling ashamed of your own body's natural form is healthy to speak out about. This work is to make hidden warriors finally speak out.
Mia Mras is a senior in Visual Arts at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She was born into a military family in Amsterdam, Netherlands but raised in Gelsenkirchen, Germany for a few years. The experience helped shape her ideas for art. After moving to Atlanta, Georgia she began to draw. Her work since a young age has expressed ideas of fantasy, emotion and the body. Her inspiration for this type of art recently would have to be how many young women and men are uncomfortable with how they look because of social media, but also the large movement of the LGBTQ+ community in the recent years. Showing light on this is an internal battle not many people will notice. Making her want to make an external representation of it for people to see.
Mia Mras, detail of Family (Print #5), relief print, 9 x 12", 2019.
See the work of Mras and her fellow UCCS VAPA Seniors at Unapologetic. at GOCA Downtown (121 South Tejon, Suite 100) starting April 19th, and running through May 18th.