Generation Z artist Mia Rabe explores themes of future anxiety and social criticism through the mediums of paintingand collage.
Born in 2003 and raised near Hamburg, Mia spent much of her childhood by the river Elbe — a connection that echoes in her artwork from 2022 to 2024, where seascapes appear as a recurring motif. Her deep affinity for the sea stems from family vacations to the North Sea and learning to sail at a young age. Northern Germany remains both her home and her place of longing.
At the age of ten, Mia received brushes and acrylic paints as a gift — a formative moment that sparked her creative journey. Since 2020, she has been painting regularly and with unmatched passion. Being an artist has allowed her to develop a deeper understanding of the world, as she absorbs and internalizes what she sees — color, texture, light — and translates it into visual expression. Mia is a keen observer and a deeply feeling person. Where she was once described as “dreamy,” she now sees this trait as a profound source of strength.
During her final years of school, Mia began selling her artworks and had the opportunity to exhibit at IDA Brauerei Pinneberg for several months. She also participated in the group exhibition “früh Werk 2023” at Drostei Pinneberg.
After graduating from high school in 2023, Mia spent a gap year in Iceland, working as an au pair. This experience deepened her connection to nature, which has since found its way into her creative work. It also shaped her personal and artistic growth.
Mia is now based in Erfurt, Germany, where she studies Art and Literature. She has already shared her work with the public through exhibitions at Nerly Café and the University of Erfurt, and in “Hamburg zeigt Kunst” in September 2024.
As a child, Mia believed that art had to be pretty and beautiful to earn a place in someone’s home. Today, her focus has shifted. Influenced by growing political awareness, climate justice, and feminism, she uses her art to express personal and generational concerns. The medium of collage in particular allows her to highlight social criticism rooted in her own fears, sorrows, and despair.
Mia no longer aims to create conventionally beautiful paintings. Instead, she believes art can — and should — be pure, raw, and painfully honest. Her work can be uncomfortable and vulnerable, because it emerges from real and raw emotion.
