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Artist Statement
My work explores ritual processes of living and dying well in the world. My practice is tactile, intimate and cyclical, with much of it involving tattooing, visual arts, and sculptural mobiles using found and repurposed materials. Centering themes of ecology, metamorphosis and mysticism, I explore ornament and adornment as a way of embodying and symbolizing relationships, stories, spells, and dreams of care and love for the animate world. My current projects are significantly influenced by cocoons, calcium carbonate, celestial bodies and labyrinths, as well as contemporary anthropological theory and ethnography. A common thread throughout both my educational and artistic practices is the idea that centering intimacy with the unknown creates rich grounds for transformation and connection. I am especially invested in creating installations and works of art that ask us to cross thresholds into the uncertain and interconnected nature of the animate world, and the lives and deaths within it.
Weaving together research, creation, and play, I work to complicate and challenge understandings of what makes art “ecological,” exploring how we embed ourselves in realms that resonate with the uncertainty, fragility, magic, and genuine strangeness of dream states and the living world. With an educational background in contemporary anthropology, my work seeks to make theory accessible through the arts in tangible ways that can ground reflection, creation, and action. I am curious about how embodied and tactile approaches to theory can offer avenues for holistic knowledge creation, shifting the narrative from the sterility of academic institutions towards the richness and complexities of our communities and ecosystems.
Bio
Marin McMillan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work involves fine arts, sculpture, and tattooing. Born in Tofino, BC, she has been working and living in Tiohti:áke/Mooniyang/Montreal, QC, since 2018.
With an educational background in contemporary anthropology, Marin works at the intersection of theory and the arts. She has integrated her personal art practices with an Honours Thesis (2024-2025), a collaborative website publication (2025), and creative zines (2025). Since 2023, Marin has shown work in 5 group exhibitions, all with ecological themes. Her work has been published in the Queen’s University Journal (2022) and Montreal’s Bootlegger Magazine (2024).
In addition to her art practice, Marin is a workshop facilitator for a children’s creative writing program (2024-2026), and an art educator in both elementary school settings and community centers (2025-2026). Come Spring 2026, Marin will have completed a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Art Education at Concordia University, where she has been recognized with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Scholar Award (2025).
Group Shows
2023 Canopy, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, curated by Lily Junod and Madeline Schmidt.
2024 Living Charms, Concordia University, Montréal, QC.
2024 A Shell is a Shield, Mai/son, Montreal, QC, curated by Ian Nyveen and Skylar A-T.
2024 Harvest, Arts Centre, Lasqueti Island, BC, curated by Valeria De Rege and Sandra Smirle.
2025 Tryphyllum, Little Italy Garden, Montréal, QC, curated by Flor Guay.
Upcoming: Bois Magique No.4, 2026.
Publications
2025 Potions for Curiosity. Collaborative zine on art education.
2024 Adornment as a Discourse of Love. Exploration of tattooing as a process of embodied care and connection.
2024 Bootlegger No.3. Artist feature in Bootlegger Magazine.
2022 What’s your medium? Artist interview in the Queens’s University Journal.
2025 The Fairy Forest. Collaborative conversation on the nature of storytelling and mutual learning in the context of death and grief.
2018-present Concordia University. BA (Honours) in Anthropology and Art Education.
2024 Arts educator (internship through Concordia University). Suspicious Fish, Verdun.
2025-present Creative writing workshop facilitator. Suspicious Fish, Verdun.
2025 Charm-making workshop facilitor. Verdun Elementary School, Verdun. 2025-present Arts educator (internship through Concordia University). YMCA TeenZone, Westmount.
2026-present Art lab facilitator. Verdun Elementary School, Verdun.