YiMiao Shih (b. 1985) is a London-based interdisciplinary artist. She holds a MA in Visual Communication from Royal College of Art and a BFA in Fine Art from National Taiwan Normal University. She works innovatively with domestic embroidery machines and hand stitching, creating contemporary ‘embroidery-drawing’, as part of her exploration in the field of expanded drawing. She also works with traditional drawing materials as a supporting agent in the process.
Her work often satirises contemporary culture and politics, as well as capturing the everyday mundane moments in life drawing together with real-world observations of the nationalistic fervour, economic uncertainty and fragmentation of societal bonds brought about by Brexit. Shih produces a mix of short and long stitches to articulate the energy and gesture which reflect the hand-drawn movement. From a distance, the ‘embroidery-drawing’ seems like a painted image, but it is composed with ‘threaded-drawn lines’ building surreal narratives that are composed between reality and her pseudo self, taking the form as a fictional character.
Shih is currently an associate lecturer at the Royal College of Art and lecturer at London College of Communication, UAL.
Group shows include: Paul Smith Albemarle Street (2024); Koppel X Gallery (2023); ING Discerning Eye Exhibition (2022); Mall Galleries, Sunday Times Watercolour Competition (2019); Poster Prize, London Transport Museum (2019); Seventeen Gallery (2019); 250th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2018); CICA Museum, Korea (2018); Street Road Artists Space, USA (2017); Saatchi Gallery, London (2016).