Bio: Lillian Jacobson (b. 1994, Bogotá, Colombia) is a Baltimore-based Latiné artist defining “belonging” through figurative painting. Adopted into a white American family, Lillian has always been attuned to how she is seen by others, which informs her empathetic approach to portraiture. Lillian holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has exhibited in group shows across the region, including the Walters Art Museum, Maryland Art Place, Chesapeake Arts Center, Bowie City Hall, Maryland Federation of Art, and the Delaplaine Arts Center, where she won the People’s Choice Award for the 2024 exhibition, Emerging Perspectives. She is a 2025 Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize Finalist.

Artist Statement: I am a figurative painter carving out spaces where people can belong. My oil paintings build a utopia that shows how vibrant and beautiful it is when a person is allowed to exist in a space that fits all of who they are. I paint characters who stand in for ideas rather than specific individuals, using maximalist, highly detailed portraiture layered with imagery from photographs I take. Each portrait holds a whole world.