JAMILA MENDEZ @mimichicboutique

Painter. Designer. Photographer. Collagist.

Jamila Mendez is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Dallas, Texas. Her creativity was cultivated early on through private art lessons and summer art camps. It led her to attend Texas Woman’s University focusing on Fashion Design and Art.

Immediately after college, Mendez begin freelancing to build clientele. She designed custom apparel, honed her photography skills through portraiture work and certification, and taught After School Art Enrichment classes to elementary students.

Her recent work has been a fusion of painting, photography and fabric manipulation. A consistent theme of collage elements appear in her acrylic and digital work.

As an active artist throughout the DFW metroplex, Mendez has been in several exhibitions, notably the 2018 ART214 exhibition, a two time participant in the Lenora Rolla Heritage exhibition and the acclaimed Vivrant Thang exhibition hosted by 500X Gallery in the summer of 2020 as well as an exhibitor in the African American Museum. Jamila is also the creator and host of Artist to Artist, an IGTV series. You can find her recent work via her social media handles:

Instagram:@mimichicboutique and her website www.MiMiChic.com.

Artist Statement:

A good part of my work explores society’s obsession with conformity and labeling. In scenes of familiar settings, I confront how labels effect how we view subjects. My subject (more often than not) is the melanated female, her conceived role in the world and how she influences it. I tend to paint in objects that may appear random, but are actually symbolic to the topic of the piece. They are an important part of the conversation I want to initiate with the viewer.

In recent years, I have started to merge textiles with digital imagery, and cardstock into my acrylic paintings to create layered collages and multimedia works. My skill set in photography and fashion play an important role on how I decide to set up my compositions and the color palettes I choose to convey the mood of the project.

The everyday intimacies of life connect us all to each other. It’s my hope that viewers will have a chance to ponder the subject of my paintings unencumbered from labels or stereotypes. To choose to see them as multilayered beings, much like my paintings.

- Jamila