Meet Liliana Mora

Artform: Painting
Issues addressed in artwork: environmentalism, oppression, intimacy, reproduction

Liliana Mora, 24, of Berea is a painter, muralist and sculptor. She has been part of creating a large scape mural in Madison County, and also creates pottery in the Athenian Greek style, but with modern feminist themes related painted on the urns.

Liliana helped create a mural to rally public opposition towards EKPC’s (Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative) proposed High Voltage Powerline with her artistic collaborator, Bugz Fraugg. The mural is 51ft x 11ft and is on the side of a parked semi-truck in a rural part of Madison County. The collaborative mural has concretely generated more participation in the movement the work is supporting: the effort to stop the construction of The Bighill Line. To create the image for the mural, she spent time in community meetings listening to people’s concerns and the imagery is directly informed by those listening sessions. The capability to work on such a huge project has also challenged stereotypes in a rural community. The mural takes a rural community’s concerns to heart and amplifies their concerns to a highly visible public stage.

Liliana says of her work, “The mural is a piece of protest art meant to oppose the degradation of a stretch of land from Big Hill to Red Lick Kentucky. We advocate for the land rights of a rural, underserved population. The mural has been a long and labor-intensive volunteer project. It is in a rural area, so recognition is unexpected.”

Liliana is also a skilled potter currently working on a series of urns that are based on Ancient Greek styles. She is recreating classical Athenian pottery forms and adding red/black figure illustrations with contemporary themes. Her use of the historical form, illustrative style and content is based on research and critique of the Greek era and the connection to contemporary culture. These styles of urns were used ceremonially for carrying bath water for women in preparation for their weddings. In Greek pottery design she also found sexually graphic imagery and scenes of rape. She is using the form of the ceremonial wedding urn and the graphic illustrations to create story lines about abortion access, contraception, and other issues pertaining to sexual freedom, inherent risks of intimacy and consent. She sees the pottery work as a way of having direct discourse with the Greek lineage that still so deeply affects our modern culture.

“Firestarter is literally the best word I can think of to describe Lily. Working with her has been an incredible gift and the work that we are creating together is physically huge but has also been psychically huge for the community.”

In response to being nominated, Liliana says, “I am incredibly grateful and honored to even have been considered.”

To see Liliana’s work visit:
www.morart.work

Instagram: @morart.work