Mila Lynn brings her thoughts and experiences to life through her art. Recently, she was part of a group of artists whose work was displayed at the Detroit Pizza Bar.
She spoke to rolling out about the exhibit and why she participated in the show.
What goes on in the Mind of Mila?
All types of different things. I paint commissions for people, I do mirror work. I started out doing caricatures, that was my first actual source of income as an artist, and then I would do people’s cover art.
So really, anything I could get my hands on. My first show [was] all collage pieces because I was in the process of moving, and I couldn’t afford to buy new art material, and also, I had all these magazines because I had some subscriptions I had filled out, and I was like, “I need to get rid of them,” So I just tried to use what I could to make something cool.
At your current art exhibition at the Detroit Pizza Bar, you’re working with a host of other Black artists. What is that collaboration like?
It was actually the first group show I’ve ever done. Also my first, I guess you could say, proper presentation in Detroit. I’ve had my artwork featured at events and things like that, but not like an exhibition where it’s going to stay up for a month. It’d be like a one- or two-day thing.
I left that event super-filled, and super happy. I think one thing I really enjoy about Detroit is, I feel like people show genuine love. If they really mess with your artwork, you [are] going to hear from them all the time. Or if there’s a connection to make, they’ll help you with those. There’s another artist that I’m pretty cool with, his name’s Eccentric Danny … he’s always shown love. Any time there’s a submission for something, I feel like he checks it for me. Anything he can do to help out, I feel like that’s really somebody I can rock with.
You posted a note on your Facebook page about your thoughts on heartbreak and it being necessary in a human’s process of finding love. What was your mindset at that time?
Man, relationships are complicated. I feel like artistically and also socially, on an interpersonal level, I’ve gone through so many different levels of how close I actually like to be [to] people. I used to be somebody who was like, “I can still connect with you, but at the end of the day, I still got my cards close to my chest.”
I feel like depending on circumstances, it can be to your disadvantage to doing that because if two people aren’t really showing their real selves the entire time they’re connecting, then you get further down the line and you’re like, “Oh! you’re a stranger,” but also, “I’m a stranger, too.”
