leia li fifer

AKA Liam

they/them

Liam Fifer, also known under pen name Leia to the arts community, is a multidisciplinary studio artist from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, creating deeply spiritual and personal works in experimental processes of 2D and 3D media synthesis. Their interests lie in sculpture, multimedia collage and printmaking; in their work, transcending the limits of the biological body, illness, gender diversity, disability, magic in nature, all as a celebration and mourning of the human experience. Liam’s work has been exhibited in curated and juried gallery shows, recognized in local publications, and highlighted at community centers, film festivals, and underground pop-up shows. They hold an Associates in Fine Arts degree from Community College of Rhode Island.

Being genderfluid and disabled- an individual with Tethered Cord Syndrome, brain malformation Chiari Malformation, severe Ehlers Danlos Syndrome among other neurological and chronic illness, themes of being trapped in the body by pain and physical decay often push to the forefront of their work. Despite this experience, which impacts their ability to practice, themes of resilience, connection to the earth and metaphysical as means of survival, and humor also arise as themes and influence. With the feeling that their time on earth and in their body is limited, elements of coping and connection serve as a benefit to the audience and artist alike.

Book a working-class, community college graduate for your show today!

2022, on tattooing:

“in dealing with an illness that makes me feel like my mind and body are beyond my control, my decisions to tattoo myself are cementing me in a reality I don’t often have a full, firm grip on… I have not considered my body a part of me or a mind a part of my body in a long time. tattooing has taken me into a place where I feel like I can accept the uncontrollable with more grace. the significance of this experience and those who experience it as well in relation to tattooing, whether it be with gender, chronic pain, trauma, is not lost on me. I am so humbled by the practice. It is especially intimate and beautiful based on the nature of the [tattoo] design when people come to me, saying these images speak to them, and they want them to become a part of their body; my imagery is compulsive to my hand, unique only to my brain, a cathartic release of something that seeps into every aspect of my life. it is a reflection of what goes on inside of me, and can’t be suppressed by the very nature of its aggressiveness, and peculiarity… it feels humbling to have someone say, ‘i can understand your language, and i want to speak it too.’”