Lili Montefiore is an artist drawn to the stories held within everyday life. Raised on the waters of Wangi Wangi, her childhood revolved around the water, the garden, and making things by hand — experiences that continue to inform the way she sees the world today. Alongside completing her Masters in Education and working in mental health, she paints, writes poetry, surfs, cooks and studies the quiet complexities of human experience. At the centre of it all is a fascination with storytelling and the ways we make meaning from our lives. As she puts it, “Painting to me became a way of navigating that, of searching for beauty in the ordinary, everyday moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.”
Creativity and care sit closely together in Lili’s world. While studying art therapy, she began to understand making not simply as a form of expression, but as a tool for reflection, healing and understanding. Her own experiences of trauma shaped much of that discovery, revealing the capacity of art to process, hold and transform difficult experiences. Rather than separating art from life, she sees the two as deeply intertwined. “It’s helped me recognise making as a tool, not just for expression, but for processing and meaning-making.”
Shifting away from broader social commentary, she focuses on the quiet, often overlooked details of everyday life - “The work can become a kind of refuge, something gentle and recognisable that people can return to, especially when everything else feels overwhelming.” Her paintings are bright, playful and unapologetically suburban, and when she calls them “tacky” it is said with affection rather than irony, embracing familiarity, humour and accessibility: “To me, it’s suburban, playful, nostalgic — something familiar and accessible rather than refined or restrained.” Beneath the colour and warmth sits a subtle psychological layer, reflecting memory, belonging and the emotional weight of the everyday.
Having recently turned thirty, Lili finds herself settling into a new relationship with herself — one grounded in greater self-acceptance and ease. There is a growing comfort in uncertainty, and less urgency to have every answer “I am noticing the massive shift in my life after turning 30, and settling into the woman I am, and have probably always meant to have been.”
The Edit
Reading - I am currently reading ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ by Gabrielle Zevin and really enjoying it. Others I’ve really devoured this year would be ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Ottessa Moshfegh, ‘The song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller, and was deeply affected by ‘Young Mungo’ by Stuart Douglas.
Eating – I am loving slow cooking really nourishing meals now that the weather is cooling down. And forever enjoying Mediterranean meals.
Wearing – OHEN on my body for sure! Paloma Wool, Alpha 60, Olga Joan, The Lair, Deiji Studios, Gramicci, Hanavoid. I love handmade and vintage finds too.
Listening – music: Grian Chatten, Adrianne Lenker, Allegra Krieger, John Mause. Podcast Blindboy & radiolab
Liking – instagram accounts that are my favourite @are.na (visually and mentally poignant) @the.holistic.psychologist (self explanatory and fascinating) @fynphoenixx (contemporary poet)
Lili wears:
The Lift Bra and Highwaist Briefs in black.