Christine Miller
Bio: Christine Miller (b. 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York, NY with an extensive background in product development within the fashion industry. Her work examines the design intentionality of 19th and 20th century mass circulated objects and ideologies, including figurines, printed matter, newspapers, postcards, advertisements, and extremist propaganda that normalized and perpetuated the dehumanization of African Americans. She also collects and studies counter-materials: publications, speeches, and ephemera rooted in Black self-determination and resistance. Through recontextualization, she confronts racial stereotypes and anti-Black visual culture while exposing how material production shapes both whiteness and Black identity.
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: My practice examines how Blackness and whiteness are materially constructed through everyday objects and systems of exchange. In 2022, I began a series of watercolor paintings using the watermelon as a form of allegorical self-portraiture. The work centers on “eating the other,” (as theorized by bell hooks) and the consumption of Black watermelon flesh. What began as critique and self-exploration expanded into a broader investigation of how ideology is embedded in mass-produced objects. I collect 19th and 20th century racialized artifacts alongside counter-materials produced through Black autonomy and self-determination, examining the parallel narratives they create. I am particularly interested in how communication operates through mass-circulated objects and how scale, repetition, and distribution contribute to racial ideologies in America. Through painting, textiles, installation, and publication, I recontextualize these objects to expose how material culture has the ability to manufacture belief and to generate narratives grounded in agency and multiplicity.
Christine Miller
Installation comprising:
The last shall be the first, 2026
Wool, polyester, wood, and metal
Courtesy of the artist
Whiteness and Blackness 36, 2026
Wood, mirror, acrylic paint, ephemera (ceramic, plastic, and steel), and books
Courtesy of the artist
Prayers, 2026
Cotton, leather, metal grommets, assortment of charms (plastic, brass, bone, metal), cowrie shells, Florida Water, and prayers
Courtesy of the artist
Bar Lights, 1970s–80s, 2026
Vintage bar lights from the artist’s archive
Courtesy of the artist
&
The Stars of Tokenism 36, 2026
Thirty-six watercolor paintings on paper in
wooden shadowbox
&
RED, 2026
Archive displayed in vitrine: albums, books,
objects, signs, and other objects
Courtesy of the artist
First Year Exhibition
Christine Miller
Dee-licious, 2025
Watercolor on paper
Courtesy of the artist
&
I’se in town Honey, 2025
Watercolor on paper
Courtesy of the artist
&
Black Mammy, 2025
Ceramin and paper book
Courtesy of the artist