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“Chavez mines the magic of light, and filters it through experiments in new technology, the embrace of the mystical and subconscious, and an inclusive feminist aesthetic lens.” — Whitewall Magazine

Through her multifaceted, performance-based practice, American artist Lia Chavez is known for crafting unforgettable encounters which explore the phenomenology of light, illumination, and their impact on our lives and inmost creative selves. In the pursuit of physical light’s connection to the inner creative spark, she has created art across a vast array of disciplines, influenced technology, and pioneered the science of human consciousness as art. Lia combines the ephemeral and physical and the ancient and futuristic in her meticulous distillation of how humans encounter the boundless essence of all things.

Her work with light and perception is hailed as “mesmerizing” (The New York Times), “incredibly profound” (Whitewall Magazine), and “stunning” (Artnet News).

Lia has been the subject of exhibitions in numerous major institutions and venues, including the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennial, the Tate, the Savannah College of Art and Design, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the SPRING/BREAK Art Show. For the past decade, she has helped lead a performance-based research venture on the neuroscience of creativity at Goldsmiths College and Queen Mary at the University of London, where she creates groundbreaking research on visionary experience. She is the recipient of major commissions from the Armory Show, Art Production Fund, Isabella Rossellini, and more. She has lectured widely, presenting keynotes on her artwork at the Creative Time Summit, The Wall Street Journal Future of Everything Festival, and the University of Oxford, among others.

From the ancient history of botanical sciences and herbology to the frontiers of neuroscience, Lia’s life work is still guided by mystical visions of light she has experienced since she was a child. As remarked upon by The Wall Street Journal, Lia’s work seeks to “help answer a question that has eluded researchers for decades: What does the creative spark look like in the brain?”

She holds a Master of Philosophy in Visual Art and a Master’s Degree in Photography from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and was a Fellow in Visual Cultures and Feminist Aesthetics at the University of Oxford.

Lia is the founder of Hildegaard, a luxury creative house dedicated to reverence for Nature’s example of commingling light, matter, and spirit.

“Lia Chavez’s Stunning Light Performance.” — Artnet News