Mim Libro is an artist working across media whose explorations into a deep inner world emerge through painting, sculpture and design. Originally from the South Coast of Sydney/Eora, Mim now is based in Melbourne/Naarm, where she has developed and carved out her own creative journey and studio practice. Mim transitioned from a background in film and curating visual elements for music events before eventually creating her own artwork. Always seeking her next creative pursuit, what started with screen-printed posters and merch design, quickly evolved into a painting practice that deserted realism and became a conduit for how Mim views and experiences the world.  

Childhood infatuation with folklore and urban legends, coupled with a devoutly religious Roman Catholic family launched Mim’s curiosity for symbolism, ceremony and icon whilst raising questions about life, death, heaven and the afterlife, which have anchored a thematic strain through the artist’s body of work. To say Mim’s practice is spiritual is not quite accurate, but is informed by mysticism and the operation of the unknown and unexplained in day to day life.  

Mim’s work concerns the apparition, which here signifies a conceptualisation of the artist’s unique approach to artmaking and studio practice. Self described as “going against the rules of what’s right and how to paint something”, the spirit is in the details. An apparition - the way something materialises or appears - is a salient feature of Mim’s practice, which highlights the functionality of medium, whether it be airbrush, paint or sculpture, these are forms the artist brings into being through a compulsion to make. 

Airbrush is Mim’s primary medium - fast and energetic, whilst at the same time requiring a deep stillness and presence of movement in mark making. For Mim, airbrush is a meditative process and a way to channel memory, mysticism and a dreamlike personal world of stories and characters. In contrast, Mim’s sculptural practice is physical and grounding, an opportunity to fully experience a medium whether it is clay or plaster, in a direct and tactile exercise that reconnects body and earth, a process Mim describes as “humbling”.  

Mim had her debut solo (and sell-out) exhibition with MOM Gallery (Melbourne) in August 2024 and recently completed a two-week At the Above residency, during which she prolifically produced and got to experiment further with airbrushed works on paper, large-scale paintings and sculpture. Mim’s recent body of work continues to explore the intersections of the sacred and surreal, of an inner drive and outer gesture, creating a world that feels whimsical, haunted and deeply human.