Photographer, cinematographer and graphic designer Lili Ming is driven by a desire to deeply connect with her subjects, as well as to explore and celebrate her feminine gaze in a male-dominated industry.
Lili Ming has always been extremely passionate about both music and art. She took both subjects in high school.
She graduated from University of Cape Town in 2017, majoring in Film and philosophy and electives such as Religions of Past and Present, Emergence of Modernity (art) and Ancient Mythology.
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She said on her Behance: “From a very young age, I came to use these creative tools to express the seemingly intangible, in hopes of making it more perceptible and relatable to the objective other and to myself.”
She is constantly visually and emotionally stimulated by her surroundings and is extremely sensitive to energies.
“This influences and affectsmy creative experience and consequently, what manifests in my art,” she said.
Inspiration and visual eye
Her creative process usually starts with a need to express something – relating to an event, a feeling or experience that sits close to her heart.
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“Ideas and feelings present themselves to me visually and I try to recreate them into something tangible,” she said.
Ming is a compulsive doodler and is interested in the mystery and unfathomable essence behind the human expression.
She said: “I love drawing, painting and taking portraits of people. I always find myself seeking to capture everyone’s boundless spirit. I picked up photography during 2014 and have stuck with it ever since.”
Her visual eye has been described as somewhat esoteric.
“I am inspired by the overlooked and lurking nature of existence, things that are so easily ignored in our mundane routines,” she said.
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See more of her work here.
