Lili White

Born into a family that valued both discipline and creativity, Lili White was surrounded by the arts from the start. Her mother was a classical concert violinist, and her father, though focused on making a living, nurtured his passions as an amateur painter and poet. Their influence instilled in White both a love of expression and an understanding of the compromises often demanded by life.

Her formal training began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where she explored all manners of style and material manipulation. She later earned her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, where her electives ranged from European cinema comedy to existential philosophy, deepening her engagement with cultural history and narrative form. Additional studies in writing at NYU and screenwriting at Sundance Online further expanded her creative language.

White’s practice is guided by instinct and curiosity. She consistently experiments across mediums, genres, and styles, following “the calling of something that grabs me.” Her influences span Surrealism, Giacometti, Art Povera, and the Renaissance, as well as painters like Manet, Whistler, and the Abstract Expressionists. From them, she learned that it was “OK to pursue my desires.”

Recurring throughout her work is a focus on the human psyche—its mental, emotional, and physical dimensions. Whether through painting, film, or writing, she creates images and experiences that explore inner landscapes while carrying a visceral signature that makes them unmistakably her own.

Her daily process is a balance of internal and external ritual—beginning with meditation, grounding herself in a beautiful environment, and then moving into the action of making. Driven by a need to create, White rarely struggles with blocks, though she notes not every work is destined for the world. What remains consistent is the unmistakable sense of honesty and visceral presence in her art, a quality that has come to define her practice.