Lauren McHale Mills (b.1999) is a multidisciplinary artist born and bred, living and working in Ypsilanti, Michigan. McHale’s practice is born of and rooted in resilience. The nearly indestructible seed of hope within us all, urging us to move forward against all odds. 

With her primary media being acrylic painting, Mills mainly engages with the history, life, and culture of the Black American community, as well as with her own personal experiences- as those are what she knows best. 

As a love letter to both, her work grapples with the duality and multiplicity of life. How beauty and horror, good, bad, and everything in between coexist to shape our realities. And the ways in which we as humans cope with and glean joy from hardship.

Lauren is pursuing graduate study at Cranbrook Academy of Art, earning an MFA in Painting. She is expected to graduate in 2027.