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

Ila attended OCADU in Toronto for digital media and performance art. Her practice is informed by growing 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 Calabrese grandfather wanted to be an artist but subsequently became a house painter to provide for his family; he taught Ila how to hold a brush as a child. She is currently based between Toronto and Lisbon.