BIO/CV | My Site 5

Mia Banks is a multi-disciplinary artist from Walsall, specialising primarily in sculpture with elements of photography. Her practice combines both mass-manufacturing with handcrafting techniques to extract and replicate everyday textures. By doing so, she encourages audiences to pay closer attention to their surroundings, offering a neurodiverse perspective. Through themes of memory, architectural design, re-acknowledgement of value and the familiarity of functionality, her work seeks to heighten the spectators perception of reality.

The concept of 'close contact observation' is central to her practice, as she invites viewers to pay attention to overlooked details in their surroundings. Placing her sculptures in public spaces and on the street, she encourages spontaneous encounters with the work, and shared moments between passers by. These interventions disrupt the everyday patterns of urban life, inviting citizens to experience the city in new ways and to become active participants in their environment.

CV

Mia Banks

B. 2001, Walsall.

Education:

BCU School of Art, Birmingham, (September 12, 2023 - August 2024)
MFA (Distinction) Fine Art (January 2025)

BCU School of Art, Birmingham (September 14 2020 - May 29, 2023)
BA (Hons) Fine Art. (May 29, 2023)

Sandwell College West Bromwich, Extended (June 2022)

Sandwell College West Bromwich, Art and Design ( September 2017 - June 2020)

Exhibitions and Publications:

WIP Bene Culture, Digbeth (2026)

EOP Summer Camp Exhibition, Digbeth (2026)

Solo Pigeon Magazine Publication: April Issue 37, Wolverhampton (2026)

'Part 3 : Gallery Corridor' The Hive Café and Gallery, Birmingham (2026)

'Part 2 : Gallery Corridor' The Hive Café and Gallery, Birmingham (2026)

36th Circular Artspace Virtual Reality, Bristol (2026)

35th Circular Artspace Virtual Reality, Bristol (2026)

These Hands Make, The Parkside Building Birmingham (2025)

'Nothing Gold Can Stay' The New Walsall Art Gallery (2025)

'Nothing Gold Can Stay' Artist Talk, The New Walsall Art Gallery (2025)

'WE WANT COBS AND ROSES TOO' 01902, Queen's Square Wolverhampton (2025)

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 'Deviance and Difference' collaboration with artist Osman Yousefzada (2024 -2025)

MA Final Degree Show, Birmingham School of Art (2024)

Creative Showcase 24 Festival, Worcester (2024)

'Linked' Birmingham Midlands Institution (2024)

Public Art Exhibition Stryx catalogue 'Schemarium' (2024)

Stryx Gallery, Jewllery Quarter 'Schemarium' (2024)

Grasruts Catalogue Publication, April Issue (2023)

Inspired Festival website (2023)

Floodgate Street Digbeth, Billboard artwork (2023)

BFA Degree Show, (2023)

'Personal Afflictions Part Two', Night School, Birmingham School of Art (2023)

Major Project, Birmingham School of Art (2023)

Night School, Birmingham School of Art (2023)

'Personal Afflictions', Steamhouse, Birmingham (2023)

Degree Show Birmingham School of Art (2023)

'Surfacing', Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, (2022)

'45 Caprice', Stryx Gallery Digbeth (2022)

IKON collaboration with artist Mit Jai Inn (2021)

Night School Birmingham School of Art (2020 - 2023)

21 Pirates Exhibition Millennium Point, Birmingham (2020)

Sandwell College, West Bromwich (2019)

Other Art participated event:

BCU Take Over social media. (2022)

Art Workshops Summerfield Stables, Yardley Wood (2022)

Art Workshop within Sandwell Hospital, West Bromwich (2019)

Charismas Card collaboration with Compton hospice, Wolverhampton. (2019)