Ila Mira is self-taught in drawing and painting. She paints both abstractly and figuratively. She abstracts environment, the body and the visceral into poetic or metaphorical gesture as a means of escape from physical monotony. She explores relational dynamics and states of being such as loneliness, connection, apathy, hunger, confrontation, ecstasy, anxiety. She often depicts figures in isolation or in relationship with another; having negotiations with one’s self and with one’s desires.

Ila attended OCADU in Toronto for digital media and performance art. She grew up with her mother and aunt; both painters at the time attending Emily Carr University in Vancouver and her father studying to be a psychologist. Her grandfather was a house painter; he taught her how to hold a brush. She is currently based between Toronto and Lisbon.